Roger Federer being attended by a medical staff after he felt a pain in his groin during the Australian Open quarterfinal clash against Sandgren. (Getty Images)
Roger Federer is hopeful that the injury he sustained during his Australian Open quarterfinal match was a minor one, labelling it as ‘‘pain and problems.’’
The 20-time Grand Slam winner on Tuesday advanced into the semifinals with an epic 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 victory over Tennys Sandgren in Melbourne.
The match which once again proved why he is still one of the best in the business witnessed Swiss maestro save seven match points to emerge victorious after a poor start.
Federer, who had taken a medical timeout during the third set, later revealed that he had felt a pain in his groin. The former World No.1 was addressing the media after his thrilling victory over Sandgren.
“I don’t know if you can call it an injury. It’s just pain and problems. I need to figure it out now,” Federer replied when asked by a journalist if the injury can be healed before the semi-final match.
“But as it’s not like in 18 hours, like you got a third-round to play, semifinals, you have an extra day, adrenaline, there’s a lot of things. Two good nights of sleep, doctors, physios,” the six-time Australian Open champion continued.
However, he brushed aside any concerns regarding his upcoming clash saying that he hoped nothing bad had happened and would wait until the next day to take further decisions.
“Hopefully we’ll find out that it’s actually nothing bad, that it was just the groin that went really tight from playing a lot, who knows what, from nerves. I don’t know. I’m hopeful. We’ll find out tonight, tomorrow. The next day we’ll see how it goes,” Federer concluded.
The Swiss ace will next meet seven-time Australian Open champion and familiar foe Novak Djokovic in the semifinal on Thursday in what would most certainly be an epic clash.
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates
