Wimbledon 2016: Roger Federer opens up about recent knee surgery

ROGER Federer has lifted the lid on the emotional turmoil which followed the realisation he would fail to deliver a precious goal — a surgery-free career.

Elaborating on the incident in a Melbourne bathroom which led to a knee operation, Federer said: “I was very, very sad, just because I thought I was going to be lucky not having to do surgery in my career.

“I was doing so well all of last year. I was great at the Australian Open. Felt good throughout.

“All I had was a little hiccup in Brisbane when I was sick. Played the tournament sick somewhat.

“Came into Australia, was actually okay again, I thought. Then Novak (Djokovic) just played this great semi-final.

“I hung in there, maybe could have pushed a fifth set, but didn’t. After that, everything changed.

“The next day, one stupid move, the season’s been completely different than what I expected it to be.

“So when I heard that I had to do surgery, I took it, accepted it. But then going into surgery was difficult. That’s when it hit me.

“I just got really disappointed and sad about it because that’s when I really understood what the road was going to look like.”

Federer, 34, was helping bathe his twin daughters when he tore the meniscus.

The innocuous incident derailed an excellent run of form for the Swiss master before back problems ended his run of 65 successive grand slams at the French Open.

“I’ve always tried to avoid surgeries as much as possible just because I always felt like it was definitely not the thing you want to do as a professional athlete,” he said.

“So I really don’t want to go into details what it was, but it was a meniscus tear in the knee. It was a simple operation. My recovery actually was very quick and very good.

“I felt like I got unlucky throughout the process with hurting my back again before Madrid, getting sick in Miami, so forth.

“I think I got into a tough spell there. I just felt I had to stop everything by not playing Paris, reset basically, essentially.

“I don’t want to say ‘start from zero’, but just reset from there and make another push for Wimbledon, which was great. I had five, six really good weeks from then.”

Chasing an eighth Wimbledon crown and 18th career slam, Federer was in vintage form when it came to discussing his troublesome back.

“Look, this back has won me 88 titles, so I’m okay with that back,” he grinned.

“It’s okay if it messes around with me sometimes.

“It’s frustrating because it shakes the whole mechanics of the body, what you can work on.

“Yeah, maybe if it hits you in bad times, it’s not funny. I think particularly difficult has just been looking ahead of what was to come: Paris, Wimbledon, Olympics, US Open.

“It’s different than if it happens at the end of the season, let’s just say Davis Cup, 2014, where you know ‘Okay, I have another week or two to play, then you go on vacation’.”

“Then you have plenty of time. This was different.

“That’s why the decision not playing Paris, for instance, was very easy to be taken because it was for Wimbledon, it was for the rest of the season, it was for my life, it was for the rest of my career.

“That’s more important than one or two or three tournaments really.”

Roger Federer downed by John Isner, Rafael Nadal lucky to survive at Paris Masters

A long season took its toll on Roger Federer on Thursday as the Swiss was knocked out of the Paris Masters following a 7-6(3) 3-6 7-6(5) third-round defeat by big serving John Isner.

The third-seeded Swiss held serve throughout but lost two tiebreaks against his American opponent, who will face Spain's David Ferrer in the quarter-finals.

Federer, who won the Basel title last Sunday, seemed to be cruising after breezing through the second set, but Isner pushed him to another tiebreak, using his devastating serve to prevail in the deciders.

Isner, who fired down 27 aces, ended the contest on his fourth match point with a service winner.

"It's tough to get out of the tournament not having lost your serve but that's how it can go against John," the former world number one told reporters.

"At the very end of the season, going two tournaments in a row after playing a lot of tennis in Basel the week before... there's maybe a bit of a letdown after Basel."

Federer's defeat was the first upset at Bercy after world number one Novak Djokovic and second seed Andy Murray were joined by Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.

Nadal saved a match point before subduing South African Kevin Anderson 4-6 7-6(6) 6-2.

The seventh seeded Spaniard appeared to be on his way out but a risky forehand winner allowed him to save match point at 5-6 down in the second set tiebreak.

Anderson, who served 20 aces, cracked in the final set as Nadal secured a meeting with fourth seed Stan Wawrinka after the Swiss eased past Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-4 7-5.

Djokovic's serve suffered a second-set malfunction against Gilles Simon but the Serb stayed on course for a third consecutive title on the banks of the River Seine with a 6-3 7-5 victory.

He dropped serve four times in the second set but Simon could not capitalise as Djokovic set up a quarter-final against Tomas Berdych, who defeated local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-4.

Djokovic, however, will need to raise his game if he is to win a fourth title here as his possible final opponent, Murray, looked in ominous form.

The Scot put a marker down for the Davis Cup final when he dismantled Belgium's David Goffin 6-1 6-0 in awe-inspiring fashion to advance into the last eight.

Three weeks before Britain and Belgium face off in the Davis Cup final on clay in Ghent, Murray had just too much pace for the 16th seeded Goffin on the Bercy hard court.

Goffin can only hope the red dust will slow down world number three Murray in the Nov. 27-29 tie after the Scot had the Belgian chasing from corner to corner throughout.

An unforced error gave Murray the opening set and the Olympic champion was relentless in the second, closing it out with a backhand winner down the line having allowed Goffin only eight points on his service games.

Japanese sixth seed Kei Nishikori retired with an abdominal injury in his third-round match against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, a scare with the ATP World Tour finals 10 days away.

Nishikori was trailing 7-6(3) 4-1 when he threw in the towel against Gasquet.

The Japanese is one of eight players qualified for the World Tour finals, which will be played at the O2 Arena in London from Nov. 15-22. Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Rafa Nadal, Berdych and Ferrer are the others.

Gasquet, who is currently ninth in the ATP Race to London standings, is first reserve.