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Roger Federer hints at Exhibition return during Swiss Sports Awards

Roger Federer Laver Cup Practice

Roger Federer was celebrated and recognized at the 2022 Swiss Sports Awards in Zurich. The 20x Grand Slam Champion was presented with an honorary lifetime achievement award given only to significant figures in Swiss sport. Federer is just the sixth recipient of the award and the first since 2007.

During his acceptance speech, Federer talked about life since his retirement at the Laver Cup back in September.

“There’s more going on since I’m not playing tennis any more, and especially I don’t have any excuses to turn down an invitation anymore. I can no longer say that I have a match, a training session, an injury, a rehab to do. As a result, the demands are greater than when I was active.”

Federer has seemingly avoided the public eye since retirement, making only a handful of front-facing appearances over the past three months. Despite noting that retirement has “went better than I thought”, I would not be surprised to see the 103x tour-level champion on a tennis court in 2023. During his acceptance speech, Federer said he hopes to play in a few exhibition matches in the coming years, something he has already done since his retirement.

A few weeks ago, we saw the 41-year-old take the court with the World No. 1 in men’s wheelchair tennis, Shingo Kunieda, at an exhibition event in Tokyo organized by his long-time sponsor, Uniqlo. In a match officiated by Kei Nishikori, Federer and Kunieda bested Gordon Reid and Kurumi Nara 8-6 in a tiebreak-set.

We have seen countless other tennis stars play in various exhibition events for charity, and given Federer’s philanthropic history including matches like the Match For Africa, I fully expect him to follow suit.

Main Photo form Getty Images

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