John McEnroe talks through Roger Federer retirement plan as Swiss ace eyes comeback

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John McEnroe has predicted how Roger Federer will handle both his comeback from injury and retirement, as the Swiss star is aiming towards competing at next month’s Laver Cup. The 41-year-old has been out of action since last year but is attempting to play at the O2 Arena in September with one eye on competing at the Australian Open next year.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion underwent a third knee surgery and there had been doubts whether Federer would continue playing, as McEnroe has given his prediction on what could happen next for him.

“He says he wants to play next year and who am I to say that he shouldn’t do that?” McEnroe told Eurosport. “He should absolutely do whatever he wants. So, I don’t know but if he wants to play next year, and he’s even thinking about playing the Australian Open, or play these events, he knows what it takes to do that – and he ain’t going there to lose the first round.

“So that will be an interesting decision he will make, I don’t know what will happen, he’s the most beautiful player I’ve ever seen and he’s the epitome of class. Me personally, I didn’t want the farewell tour but he’s obviously in a much different position than I was in. It depends on the person, some people like that, showered with gifts and love – who wouldn’t? But at the same time, I don’t think Roger wants to go on the court and lose first or second round.

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“I thought what was going to happen is that he was going to play Laver Cup. Hopefully, Team World would win one and then he would then go to Basel and retire. That seemed to make sense because the body wasn’t able to get to the level he needed.

“At Wimbledon, we saw what people think of him. So, he doesn’t need to go out there, he’ll go out there and show up because he’s involved with certain sponsors and he’ll get that same type of love. So that decision lies with him and we hope that it’s one that makes him happy and the sport happy.”

Federer has previously told McEnroe that he hopes to be able to compete at Wimbledon one more time, after he was forced to watch on as a spectator when Novak Djokovic clinched his seventh SW19 title last month.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of matches on this court. It feels awkward to be here today in a different type of role,” Federer said.

“It’s great to be here with all the other champions. This court has given me my biggest wins and my biggest losses. I hope I can come back one more time.”

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