Roger Federer: 'I had a stiff back last year'

• Tennis News
• Roger Federer

Roger Federer commented on the fitness work he did with his trainer Pierre Paganini in April heading into the clay season. The Swiss said his knee health is not a concern for him. "This was more about preparing for extended rallies which I knew I wanted to work on because of the problems I had at the US Open with the heat.

I just think a lot of things led to that problem at the US Open. I had a stiff back, I guess, from sort of post-Wimbledon until I end up pre-season as well a little bit and because I have been on the hard and grass courts for so long, rallies were always on the shorter side, I'd say, especially since Cincinnati anyway and it was mild and I had a desire to work again especially in fitness because the matches didn't allow me to extend the rallies as much, you know, to work on playing longer points and that, obviously, is what you need on clay maybe.

We'll see. Maybe it will be just one game in Paris and it was all for nothing. Still, I think it helps for any surface, you know, to be really tough when the rallies go long. And I feel very strong right now. And obviously we worked on that in December already.

So the knee has been long gone, to be honest. That was all done by mid-'17 I'd say after I won Wimbledon", concluded the 20-time Major winner.