Federer's Five Weeks Off...
It’s a leap year and we can all use that extra day… but who is the only top ten player, male or female, who wasn’t scheduled to compete for the past five weeks? Roger Federer! Serena Williams has also been off the Tour since the 2008 Australian Open, but she was scheduled to play in Paris and had to withdraw due to dental surgery. Federer has scheduled similar extended
breaks in his tournament calendar the past couple years, but somehow this year feels a little different. Federer did not the play the tournament in Doha at the very beginning of the year as he has in past years. A stomach illness forced him to miss his Australian Open warm-up event at the Kooyong exhibition tournament. Therefore, Federer's only match play since November, 2007, has been at the 2008 Australian Open where he lost in the semis to eventual champion and current World Number Three, Novak Djokovic. Conversely, World Number Two, Rafael Nadal, competed in a tournament in Chennai prior to the Australian Open and another in Amsterdam a couple weeks ago. The rest of the men’s top ten have all competed in various events since the Australian Open including Davis Cup matches. On the women’s side, World Number One, Justine Henin, has competed in a couple tournaments and 2008 Australian Open Champion, Maria Sharapova, played in Federation Cup, as well as Doha in the past month. So will the extended post-Australian Open break provide Federer with any edge over his competitors who have been competing on the Tour the past five weeks? At this stage in Federer's career, maintaining the desire and staying healthy are probably more important than match practice. Nonetheless, it will be important for Federer to reassert his position as the Number One player during the major Tour stops at the upcoming Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida.
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