World number four Roger Federer said that he was given blessing by his wife, Mirka, to attend this week’s Rome Masters, an ATP Masters 1000 claycourt event where he’s a defending finalist. The Swiss star lost in the final last year to top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Federer pulled out of last week’s Madrid Masters in order to spend time with his wife who gave birth to their second set of twins – Lenny and Leo.
“It’s hard to leave all the family, but I’ll see them soon,” Federer said to the press on Tuesday. “It’s the best thing in the world [being a father again], just supporting Mirka through it all and being there for her.
“Also having Myla and Charlene, my two daughters, it’s been an unbelievable journey and now that my two sons, Leo and Lenny, have been born, we couldn’t be more happy. It’s super emotional. It’s just nice being such a big family now, all together. Spending quality time together the past few weeks has been super nice.”
Taking part at the Rome Masters was admittedly, a last minute decision, according to Federer.
“It happened all of sudden on Thursday,” Federer said. “I spoke to the team, I spoke to Mirka, asked all of them what they thought I should do and they said too quickly that I should come here and play. So ‘ok, if you don’t want me around, I’ll go away!’” he joked.
Update: Federer lost his opening round match to Jeremy Chardy of France.
