Roger Federer is “hopeful” of playing in the Davis Cup final against France on Friday despite the crippling back injury he sustained in London.
“I am not good enough to practice yet and I wish my progress would be faster,” the Swiss star told a press conference at the Stade Pierre Mauroy outside Lille which will host the three-day final.
“It’s a little bit better than on Saturday, Sunday, Monday so I am hopeful.”
Federer sustained the back injury playing in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour finals in London on Saturday evening during a gruelling three set match against Swiss teammate Stan Wawrinka.
Sunday’s withdrawal was only the third walkover of Federer’s career and he has never abandoned a game during play.
The world number two said that the Swiss team’s medical staff had been working hard on his fitness and that the pain he had felt on Saturday was easing.
Asked if he was worried about missing the chance to win the Davis Cup final for the first time in his career, he replied: “I don’t know. I’m a positive kind of person so I have to believe in it.”
Were Federer to miss the final, it would be a huge body blow to Swiss hopes as although Wawrinka at fourth in the world is comfortably ranked above all the French players, after him the fall off in the Swiss team is steep with Marco Chiudinelli 212th and Michael Lammer 508th.
Federer and Wawrinka earlier took to Twitter in a bid to bury any lingering resentments from their at times bad-tempered London match.
“It’s great being with the boys again,” Federer tweeted on Tuesday, above a Swiss team picture including himself and Wawrinka with arms around each other.
In the shot, world No.4 Wawrinka makes playful ‘bunny ears’ behind his teammate’s head.
That frivolity seemed light years from the fallout that hit the two countrymen as Federer defeated Wawrinka in three gruelling sets on Saturday in the ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals.
Federer had saved three match points in the 10th game of the deciding set in that match and it was poised at 5-5 and 40-40 in game 11 when Wawrinka gestured to Federer’s box asking that they not make noise in between serves.
Federer’s wife Mirka was sitting in the players section and he was reportedly upset that Wawrinka had blamed her.
Widely regarded as being the finest tennis player of all time, Federer has won all there is to win at the top in tennis apart from Olympic singles gold and the Davis Cup.
His greatest rival Rafael Nadal on the other hand has the full set of all four grand slam titles, Olympic singles gold and the Davis Cup.
Federer has blown hot and cold on the Davis Cup over the course of his long career, but with Wawrinka, this year’s Australian Open champion, finally emerging as a player of the highest-class, a Davis Cup win has been a priority for him.
