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After more than thirteen months of absence due to the pandemic and a double surgery Roger Federer is back on the pitch this 2021. The twenty-time winner of Grand Slam titles started slowly and ended up playing Roland Garros as his main tournament , the first big event for him after about 500 days of absence from the Grand Slam tournaments.
For the Swiss the Parisian tournament was only the fourth tournament since the Australian Open 2020 and he did the best of him given the constant physical problems. In Paris Federer had three wins before retiring before the fourth round, not playing the match against Italian number one Matteo Berrettini.
The Swiss wanted to preserve his condition by putting his knee to rest in view of the tournaments in Halle and especially Wimbledon, his main goal of the season. Federer's decision to retire to preserve himself, but without real physical problems was not appreciated by everyone and there were many among the insiders to notice a hint of annoyance.
Federer decided to end his 2021 season
Roger Federer believes social media is partly to blame for the increasing amounts of pressure felt by youngsters today. The Swiss pointed out how social media was close to non-existent in his days, which is why such problems rarely occurred.
Federer also admitted that press conferences haven't evolved enough with time, which makes things difficult for athletes. "The stress is so great," Federer said. "And I think a lot has to be down to social media. The first 10 years of my life there was no social media, maybe I had just a website, then the next 10 years social media was everywhere.
Also, in regards to this, the press situation does need to be reconsidered," he added. "I think I’m one of the athletes who’s done the most press – ever! And I agree that it's always the same. Always." Federer went on to assert that players must be allowed to be more human, especially when doing a press conference after a defeat.
"I can’t imagine going through the beginning of my career with social media; I have no clue how I would have handled it," the Swiss said. "For every 10 nice comments there’s always one negative comment and, of course, that is the one you focus on.
It's a horrible situation. Even when I am feeling down I know I need to act a certain way in front of the world's press. We need to remember that tennis players are athletes and professionals, but we are also human too."
