Struggling with a knee injury and skipping almost the entire 2020 season, Roger Federer played his first Majors match in nearly 500 days at Roland Garros. Roger got off to a perfect start at Roland Garros, outscoring Denis Istomin in straight sets and sealing the deal in one hour and 33 minutes.
It was Roger’s third ATP tournament in 16 months, and he did his best to build momentum ahead of his beloved grass tour at Halle and Wimbledon. After beating Istomin, Federer said he gained some motivation when Daniel Evans defeated world No.
1 Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo. The Swiss had already defeated the Briton in his comeback match in Doha a few weeks earlier, which motivated him to push himself and challenge rivals from the top. Despite some expected ups and downs after such a long hiatus, Roger beat Daniel 7-6 3-6 7-5 in Doha in two hours and 24 minutes, making a winning comeback after 405 days!
Roger Federer and Evans had trained in Dubai before Doha, playing 20 practice sets and learning a lot about each other’s game. Both players saved three of four break chances, and Federer won four more points to prevail with a late break in the decider, the only one of his in the entire match!
Evans played another legend a few weeks later and got the best win of his career. The Briton came to Monte Carlo with four ATP wins on clay and none since 2017! Daniel found Game A for him in the Principality and defeated world No.
1 Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-5 in two hours and six minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.
