Roger Federer: 'I think the worst is behind me'

Roger Federer, who is recovering from a right knee surgery he had in August, spoke about his decision to attend this year’s Laver Cup. The 20-time major champion is glad he has made the decision to attend it, as he went on to speak about the reception he got from others. “The reception I’ve received, everybody is so upbeat that I’m here. They wish me all the best and they don’t even see the crutches. They just want me to be good again and enjoy the weekend,” Federer said in an interview for the event with former World No. 1 Jim Courier.

“I’ve seen some incredible tennis, some great matches and it’s been wonderful. I’m really happy I made the trip,” he added. The Swiss maestro opened up about how it was a difficult process to decide whether to undergo a third right knee surgery after having two last year. “I was just nowhere near where I wanted to be to play at the top, top level. But I tried my best and at the end… too much is too much. Now I’ve just got to take it step by step,” Federer said.

‘It’s going to take me a few more months’

“I’ve got to first walk again properly, run properly and then do the sidesteps and all the agility work and then eventually I’ve got to be back on the tennis court. But it’s going to take me a few more months and then we’ll see how things are at some point next year.

“I’ve got to take my time. I don’t want to rush into anything at this point. This is also for my life. I want to make sure I can do everything I want to do later on. There’s no rush with anything, so I’m actually in a really good place. I think the worst is behind me. I took the time and, I don’t know, I’m just really in a good place. I’m really happy.”

Roger Federer, as expected, was at the receiving end of many thunderous ovations inside Boston’s TD Garden. He was either sitting in the front row watching the play or was interacting with the players behind the scenes. “I think Boston is a great city. The stadium is wonderful, the crowds have been incredible. Both teams are stacked with absolute quality and top players,” Federer said.

“That’s what the idea was behind it: that everybody could come together, have the most incredible weekend, learn from one another and then hopefully that’s going to inspire them, motivate them and get them going for the rest of this year, next year.”

John McEnroe on Team World: “They have given it their all’

Team Europe had incredibly won its fourth Laver Cup in as many editions this weekend. John McEnroe, who is Team World Captain, hopes that this will be his squad’s last defeat. “I feel like it will be like, “No one wins the Laver Cup, beats us, John McEnroe, five times in a row’,” McEnroe was quoted as saying by the atptour.com.

“We battled our best. These guys are a great team, no question, incredible team. They had good team spirit. We did as well,” McEnroe said. “Obviously if you get a couple different results, [we] could have put more pressure on them, but we just came up short in I think [five] tie-breaks. You win half those, totally different story.”