Is Roger Federer Close to Withdrawing From Australian Open 2020 Ahead of Novak Djokovic Match?

World No.3 Roger Federer has skipped his practice session ahead of his semifinals clash against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open 2020. The Swiss maestro had admitted of struggling with groin ‘pain’ during his quarterfinals match against Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion was forced to save seven match points in a thrilling five-setter victory over Sandgren in the last 8. However, the 38-year-old sparked injury concerns as he took a 9-minute off-court medical timeout during the third set.

Roger Federer skipped the practice session for the second time

Federer, who hopes to be fit for his high-voltage match against arch-rival Novak Djokovic on Thursday, was not named on the practice schedule for Wednesday. The Basel native has also not provided any updates on his fitness after opting out of the practice sessions.

However, in some good news for Federer fans, this is not the first time he has pulled out of training sessions this week. Earlier, he had not hit the practice courts as he skipped on-court practice the day after beating John Millman in a marathon five-setter. But Federer returned to the court for quarterfinals and can be expected to return on Thursday against the Serb.

On the other hand, Novak Djokovic had booked a 90-minute practice session with Goran Ivanisevic and Marian Vajda from 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm local time on court No.23.

Also Read: “I Don’t Deserve This One” – Roger Federer Gets Emotional After Victory at Australian Open 2020

“I’m hopeful”: Federer

“I don’t know if you can call it an injury. It’s just pain and problems. I need to figure it out now,” Federer said in the post-match press conference.

He further added: “But as it’s not like in 18 hours like you got a third-round to play, semi-finals, you have an extra day, adrenaline, there’s a lot of things. Two good nights of sleep, doctors, physios.”

However, the Swiss was hopeful of finding out that it’s actually nothing bad, that it was just the groin that went really tight from playing a lot. He confessed that he does not know what it is, who knows what, from nerves.

“I’m hopeful. We’ll find out tonight, tomorrow. The next day we’ll see how it goes,” he concluded.