Roger Federer has 101 titles and so many special moments of his career, but that 2017 Australian Open final was a huge highlight.
Roger Federer about his knee and back problems…
The Swiss sensation explains in a nice video his struggle back in 2016 to comment
“It all started good playing the semis at the Australian Open losing to Novak.
Hurting my knee not thinking it was a big deal coming back to Switzerland realizing on the MRI that there was a broken meniscus; understanding I have to have my first surgery really as a tennis player.
I couldn’t believe it’s actually quite emotional; especially so after the surgery you know looking down at my foot and understanding that maybe this leg or this knee will never be the same. I took it on my chin and said ‘okay.’ I start working basically that next day after I came back from the hospital.
[For] some reason my knee was still wasn’t a hundred percent throughout the clay-court season; after that also I got back issues, and I had the knee and the back.
So that’s when I decided to pull out the French Open because I just realized there’s just no way I can even win a match there and I was able to get my back in check.
My knee was still playing up real funny in Stuttgart, Halle, and Wimbledon. I think just it’s my bod; my knee deserves a break, and everybody agreed with me, and that’s when I decided to take some time off.
… and his incredible AO final against Rafael Nadal
[I] gave me all the time I needed as well on the practice court you know to work on my game again and so when I did come back in 2017, I came back so strong I couldn’t believe it myself because I actually thought it was going to take me at least almost a half a season to get into the swing of things, but this fairy tale ended very nicely by winning the Australian Open.
In my comeback final against Rafa [Nadal] where I was down 3-1 and the fifth and the rest we know, I go on and turn it around and win it. So it was maybe one of the most special moments in my entire tennis career.”
Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal – Australian Open 2017 Final (Highlights HD)
