World number seven Roger Federer said that taking part in tournaments while he was still dealing with back problems was a mistake, stating that he should have skipped those matches instead.
The Swiss star made this revelation prior to the start of his hometown tournament – the Swiss Indoors Basel – which begins on Monday, October 21.
“With hindsight, I shouldn’t have done. They were errors,” he said.
Following his shock 2nd round defeat at Wimbledon, Federer opted to take part in two claycourt tournaments after the grasscourt Slam and tried on a new, larger racquet. His results were mixed with a semifinal run in Hamburg and an opening round loss in Gstaad.
The swiss Maestro believes he could play up to 15 matches in the stretch of the next three weeks, similar with his unbeaten run from Basel to Paris Masters and ATP World Tour Finals back in 2011 which prepared his return at the top of the world rankings by July 2012 when he won the Wimbledon title.
“I don’t know if my level of play is strong enough to do it now,” he said but added that he is physically and mentally prepared for it.
Federer will face world number 60 Adrian Mannarino of France in the opening round.
