John McEnroe on Roger Federer’s tennis return: ‘He won’t go the Australian Open to lose in the first round’
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Updated 25/08/2022 at 15:21 GMT
Eurosport expert John McEnroe feels Roger Federer won’t want to return to tennis only to lose in the early stages of tournaments. Federer has not played a match since Wimbledon last year after undergoing knee surgery, but is set to make a comeback at the Laver Cup in September as part of a star-studded Team Europe line-up which includes Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
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Eurosport expert John McEnroe believes Roger Federer won’t return to Grand Slam action “to lose in the first round” with the Swiss star set to make his comeback to tennis in September.
Federer has been out of action since his defeat to Hubert Hurkacz at the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year as he underwent knee surgery.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion has since dropped out of the top 1000 in the ATP rankings for the first time since 1997.
“He says he wants to play next year and who am I to say that he shouldn't do that?” questioned McEnroe.
“He should absolutely do whatever he wants. So, I don't know but if he wants to play next year, and he's even thinking about playing the Australian Open, or play these events, he knows what it takes to do that - and he ain't going there to lose the first round.
“So that will be an interesting decision he will make, I don't know what will happen, he's the most beautiful player I've ever seen and he's the epitome of class.”
Federer is set to return to tennis at the Laver Cup, which takes place on September 23-26 in London, as part of a star-studded Team Europe line-up which also includes Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
McEnroe says he personally wouldn’t have a farewell tour and didn’t rule out retirement for Federer.
“Me personally, I didn't want the farewell tour but he's obviously in a much different position than I was in,” said McEnroe.
“It depends on the person, some people like that, showered with gifts and love – who wouldn’t? But at the same time, I don't think Roger wants to go on the court and lose first or second round.
“I thought what was going to happen is that he was going to play Laver Cup. Hopefully, Team World would win one and then he would then go to Basel and retire. That seemed to make sense because the body wasn't able to get to the level he needed.”
Federer made a surprise appearance at Wimbledon this year as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of Centre Court.
He received a standing ovation and McEnroe feels Federer “doesn’t need” to return to tennis.
“At Wimbledon, we saw what people think of him,” added McEnroe. “So, he doesn't need to go out there, he'll go out there and show up because he's involved with certain sponsors and he'll get that same type of love.
“So that decision lies with him and we hope that it's one that makes him happy and the sport happy.”
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