Haas on Federer: “I’m 100 percent sure that the goal is Wimbledon”

The German believes his old friend wants one last crack as he recovers from a third knee surgery in two years

Zuma / Panoramic

October 13, 2021

If anyone knows how Roger Federer might be feeling about the future, it’s probably Tommy Haas. The former world No 2 and now the tournament director at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells remains one of the Swiss’ best friends and Haas thinks Federer has his sights set on playing at Wimbledon next summer.

The 40-year-old Federer is currently rehabbing after knee surgery and has yet to say if and when he will be back to the Tour. although last month at the Laver Cup, he did say he was happy with how his knee was recovering.

Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2021 © AI / Reuters / Panoramic

In an interview with L’Equipe, Haas said he was sure Federer has Wimbledon uppermost in his mind.

“He’s happy,” Haas said. “He has no reason not to be. He knows that, there’s a lot of gratitude in him. He loves life. But he’s still hungry. He still hopes he can come back. He wants to stop when he wants to, to decide when it’s time to say you don’t like it anymore (because) you lose too much.”

Federer has not played since Wimbledon, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Hubert Hurkacz. After two knee operations in 2020, time is running out for the 20-times Grand Slam champion but Haas believes the grass of the All England Club, where he has won eight times, will be foremost in his mind.

“We saw at Wimbledon that he was a little bit injured, he wasn’t moving as well as usual. But he’s going to make every effort to come back. I’m 100 per cent sure that the goal is Wimbledon. It’s his best surface to go far again, again,” he said.

Haas said his old friend will know more about how well placed he is for one last go by the spring of 2022.

“It’s all going to depend on how he can overcome that (knee surgery) physically,” Haas said. “We’ll have an element of an answer in March, April, May.”