Sitting Down with Federer

In an exclusive chat, Roger opens up about his schedule, rest and retirement. (AP Photo)

BARCELONA, Spain—A Roger Federer sighting in 2016 has become like seeing a wild deer. When he does materialize, it's a fleeting and skittish occasion; he's likely to vanish just as quickly as he appeared.

The world No. 3 has played only three matches since the Australian Open—two victories and a three-set loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Monte Carlo—opting not to play Indian Wells, pulling out of the Miami Open with a stomach virus and, just this morning, withdrawing from Madrid with a back injury.

Knee surgery knocked Federer off his feet just after Melbourne; it was the first time the 34-year-old had ever gone under the knife. He dealt with it by stepping back, resting—and resting some more—all with the goal of playing a tournament schedule that suits his body.

"For me anyway, it’s either No. 1 or it’s good to be Top 4," Federer told me in Barcelona this April. "It’s good to be Top 8 because of the seeding.

"I want to be highly ranked at the end of the year. I just need to know that I won a lot of tournaments, I beat the best, I play the way I want to play."

Federer is just a few hundred points behind Andy Murray in the tour rankings, but that proximity isn’t pushing him to appear in more draws. He did enter Madrid at the last minute last week, but then made the call to pull out on Monday.

"Right now I think I’m in the part of my season [where] at first I need to make sure I’m 100 percent," Federer said. "If it’s better for me to train for a week I’ll do that over chasing No. 1, which honestly is less important to me.”

With 17 Grand Slam titles in his pocket, no one knows his body's limits better than Federer. The father of four young children even admitted to enjoying his time off while rehabbing from knee surgery.

"It’s not like I couldn’t handle it anymore, scratching the walls and stuff, wanting to go back on tour right away, but it was an interesting process," he admitted. "In a funny way I enjoyed it. I was home for four-and-a-half weeks with the kids. They were skiing, they loved every minute about it. I loved just being back in my home for so long."

He was also very positive about his performance in Monte Carlo, where he took a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.

"I’m happy how well I was actually able to play," Federer said. "Clearly I would have loved to even win it. At the same time I think the three matches I got gave me all the information I needed and I’m really really happy about that."

This week the retirement rumor frenzy has picked up once more, yet Federer has said he has no plans for how he will leave the game.

"Honestly, I don’t know," he said. "I spoke to [Stefan] Edberg, and he announced at the beginning of the season and played the entire season somewhat like a Kobe [Bryant] thing, but Edberg’s was 12 months basically—by the end of it he was just exhausted."

Bryant played in his final NBA game in April and was given an extended and proper sendoff, including a tribute video from his Nike peers. Federer appears in the clip, talking about emojis, of course.

"There was a huge launch by Nike and the big Nike family coming all together, and Laker fans," Federer said. "It was a big deal. I think he deserved that.

"It’s nice when they can leave their legacy that way and still remain a super star in their sport even when they’re not playing anymore like [Michael] Jordan. I think it’s wonderful."

To his legion of fans, wonderful would be to see Federer play again, and to keep playing for a few more years. Their next chance will be at the Italian Open. When in Rome, Roger?