Roger Federer to return for Switzerland versus Portugal Davis Cup tie – Tennis News
Swiss Legend Roger Federer is set to lead his country in the Davis Cup World Group, second round tie against Portugal this weekend. The encounter will be held at the indoor hard courts of Postfinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland.
The 29-year-old uploaded a picture of him on his Facebook page and wrote, “In Bern having a nice time with the Swiss Davis Cup team, walked through the city earlier today.”
Ranked 18th in the world, Switzerland had a bye in the first round. While, Portugal defeated Slovak Republic 4-1 in the first round of the ITF men’s team competition.
Federer will try to forget his loss quarterfinal loss at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France at the Wimbledon Championships last week. The Swiss was leading by two sets to love but Tsonga came back to upset him in five sets
6-3, 7-6(3), 4-6, 4-6, 4-6.
The sixteen time grand slam champion made his Davis Cup debut against Italy in 1999. He has a 37-11 win/loss record in Davis Cup. Federer is playing for his country after a gap of two years. The Swiss won both of his matches when
he represented his country for the last time in the Switzerland versus Italy World Group play off tie in 2009. Federer thrashed Simone Bolelli in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 and Potito Starace again in straight sets in the second and fourth rubber respectively
to help his country to a 3-2 win.
In the absence of Federer, Switzerland did not perform well and was relegated from the World Group after their humiliating 0-5 loss to minnows Kazakhstan in the World Group play-offs last year. Earlier, the European nation had
lost 1-4 to Spain in the World Group first round tie.
Federer had declared prior to Wimbledon that he will return to help his country in the Davis Cup. The Swiss had written on his official website, “I've decided I'm going to play the Davis Cup tie in July at home against Portugal.
I'm really looking forward to helping Switzerland begin the process of getting back into the World Group.”
The former world number 1 has a 38-9 win/loss record in 2011. He has managed to clinch only one ATP World Tour title so far in this season.
Federer will be helped by world number 15 Stanislas Wawrinka, world number 150 Stephane Bohli and world number 206 Marco Chiudinelli in the Swiss team. Federer and Wawrinka are the reigning Olympic men’s doubles champions.
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