Federer eyes confidence boost

 

Originally published on: 16/07/13 00:00

The Swiss, who dropped to No.5 in the world rankings for the first time in a decade following his shock second-round exit at Wimbledon, is looking to get some match practice under his belt ahead of the American hard-court swing.

Federer, who is a four-time champion at the Rothenbaum Tennis Center, added two clay-court tournaments to his schedule – he will also play in the Swiss Open for the first time since 2004.

“I thought, what are my options now? Do I need more practice? Do I need more matches? What does my heart say? I really wanted to play some more matches,” Federer said.

“Right now I just want to win a lot of matches, hopefully win a couple of tournaments and then sort of build confidence and go from there into the hard courts.”

Federer took a short break following his defeat to Sergiy Stakhovsky at the All England Club, but returns to action in Hamburg for the first time since 2008.

“I first entered into the [ATP] top 10 at Hamburg in 2002,” he said. “That is something that can never be taken away from Hamburg or me. It was one of my dreams.

“I have always enjoyed coming back here, winning here. I have had milestone victories here and also times when I have learnt a lot.”

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