Paris, Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer has confirmed he will participate in the 2020 French Open, scheduled to be held here.
“I will play the French Open. I probably won’t play much before that because I need some time away from it (tennis) and I need some time with the family,” the 38-year-old was quoted as saying by CNN.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion had featured in the French Open after a gap of three years and went down to Rafael Nadal in the semis. Earlier, Federer had also said that he will compete at the Tokyo Olympics after Wimbledon and prior to the US Open.
“We need a vacation, we need a break, and especially if I am playing the Olympics and all that. At the end of the day my heart decided to play the Olympic Games again,” he added.
Federer has won all four of the Grand Slam tournaments, as well as the ATP Tour Finals six times, but is still waiting to grab the Olympic singles gold. He had won a doubles gold with Stan Wawrinka at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but was later defeated in the next Olympics in London 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 by Andy Murray.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Nadal have also confirmed their participation in Tokyo 2020.