Roger Federer wants great rival Rafael Nadal fit and ready for ATP World Tour Finals
Friday 10 November 2017 17:06, UK
Roger Federer says he "hopes" top seed Rafael Nadal will be fit to play at the season-ending ATP Finals after growing concerns over the state of his knee.
Federer hopes the format, which sees each group play on a day-on, day-off schedule, will help the top-seeded Spaniard to nurse his body through the event.
The 36-year-old Swiss said: "With the day rest, in between each match, that's big for him. To be able to have that day rest, let the knee heal itself a bit.
"We hope he plays and hope he plays well."
Federer missed the 2016 event after ending his season prematurely but he responded phenomenally in 2017, winning the Australian Open and at Wimbledon to take his Grand Slam tally to 19.
The Swiss superstar opted out of the clay court season and the French Open earlier this year after hurting his knee on the surface last year.
Now the world No 2 is considering how to schedule his campaign in 2018 and has not ruled out a return to playing on the red dirt again.
"For next year everything's back on the table, anything's possible," Federer added.
"There's no guarantee I'm going to play as well as I did this year at the beginning of next season. I have to take everything into consideration."
Federer opens his campaign on Sunday afternoon against Jack Sock of the United States, while third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany plays Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Austria's Dominic Thiem plays Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria on Monday - every session will be shown live on Sky Sports.
The season-ending extravaganza ATP Finals at London's O2 in November ends another memorable year which will be covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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