Tennis: Federer to play on at home event until 2019

Swiss great Roger Federer (right) playing tennis with Czech Tomas Berdych on the Vltava River while promoting the Laver Cup, with Prague Castle in the background. The first Laver Cup, in honour of Australian legend Rod Laver, will pit six of the best
Swiss great Roger Federer (right) playing tennis with Czech Tomas Berdych on the Vltava River while promoting the Laver Cup, with Prague Castle in the background. The first Laver Cup, in honour of Australian legend Rod Laver, will pit six of the best players from Europe against six from the rest of the world. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

PARIS • Tennis star Roger Federer may be 35 but he showed that retirement is far from his mind by committing to play at the Swiss Indoors for another three years.

The Basel native won his 18th Grand Slam title in an epic final against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last month, ending a five-year wait to add to his tally.

He has claimed more than US$100 million (S$142 million) in prize money during his career but is showing no sign of letting up, with the Swiss Indoors organisers revealing on Tuesday that Federer is booked in for the next three editions of the event, starting in October.

"I can hardly wait to step out again in front of my home crowd in autumn. To play in Basel is always one of the highlights of the year," said Federer, a seven-time winner of his home tournament but who missed last year's event because of injury.

This year's tournament will run from Oct 21-29.

It is a considerable coup as the Swiss Indoors is only an ATP 500 event, the fourth category behind Grand Slams, World Tour Finals and Masters 1000 tournaments.

Event president Roger Brennwald added: "We are in the privileged position of having been able to secure the participation of Roger Federer in our tournament for a further three years."

Federer will be 38 by the time he plays in the 2019 edition of the Swiss Indoors.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 23, 2017, with the headline Tennis: Federer to play on at home event until 2019. Subscribe