The Swiss Indoors began this week in Basel. The tournament is a favorite for 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. The 38-year-old has won the tournament in his hometown nine times and reached the final twelve times. The former world number one made his debut at the tournament in 1998 and played against Andre Agassi. He was 17-years old at the time. Federer also served as a ball boy at the tournament when he was twelve.
Just a couple of rockstars meeting in Basel 🤟@rogerfederer @AnastaciaMusic #SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/LPVoUtrKHe
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 22, 2019
Anastacia and her battle with Cancer
Ahead of Federer’s opening match, American singer Anastacia performed for the crowd. She sang six songs and closed out her performance with her popular hit song ‘I’m Outta Love’. The song was a big hit in Switzerland, where her albums had done well. The singer is also a breast cancer survivor. She has beaten the disease twice. Her first diagnosis was in the early 2000s. The singer underwent successful treatment because she had early detection of the disease. Some years later, cancer returned, and she opted to undergo a mastectomy. The 51-year-old uses her music to raise awareness of the disease and has encouraged women to undergo frequent checkups. She is an ambassador of cancer awareness organizations such as Cancer Research UK.
Federer’s great 1st round win
After Anastacia’s performance, the Swiss took to the court to play against Peter Gojowczyk. The match against the German was Federer’s 1,500th match. The 38-year-old won the match 6-2 6-1. The match lasted 53 minutes, and the home crowd was behind the current world No.3. The 20-time Grand Slam champion improved his record in the tournament to 72-9. He is aiming to win the title for the tenth time. Federer will face Radu Albot in the round of sixteen on Wednesday.
Roger projected against Wawrinka, Tsitsipas, and Zverev
If the Swiss wins the match, he could play in the quarterfinals against his Swiss compatriot, Stan Wawrinka. The two are on the same side of the draw and could meet for the 27th time in their careers if they overcome their opponents in the third round. Federer has defeated Wawrinka twenty-three times in their twenty-six career meetings. Stan played in the European Open last week and reached the final where he lost to Andy Murray. If Roger gets past Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, he could face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals of the tournament. Alexander Zverev, who defeated Federer at the Shanghai Masters, has exited the tournament in Basel. The German was defeated in the second round by American Taylor Fritz.
Federer in Basel, ranking, and results in 2019
Ranked no.3, Federer has a 46-8 win-loss record in 2019. Federer is playing at the moment in Basel where he ousted Peter Gojowczyk 6-2 6-1.
Federer will square off with Albot in the 2nd round. The head to head is 1-0 for Federer.
The last time that they locked horns, Federer won 4-6 7-5 6-3 in the 2nd round in Miami in 23rd March 2019.
Roger has won 3 titles in 2019 in Dubai, in Miami and in Halle. The Swiss was the finalist in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.
Roger won 102 titles in his career: 47 on hard courts, 11 on clay courts, 20 on indoor courts, 5 on carpet courts and 19 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Roger Federer |
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