Federer confirms plan to play French Open in 2020

Roger Federer has confirmed his intention to play Roland Garros in 2020 as the Swiss finalises his schedule for next season.

Just a couple of days after revealing his plan to play the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Federer says he also wants to compete at the French Open after playing the second Grand Slam of the season for the first time since 2015 earlier this year.

Speaking to CNN about his plans for 2020, Federer said he would return to Roland Garros for what would be the 19th time, but ‘probably wouldn’t play too much before it’.

I will play the French Open,” Federer said. “Before that we need a vacation, we need a break, especially if I am playing in the Olympics.”

The 38-year-old missed Roland Garros between 2016-18, but played almost a full clay-court season this year, making the quarter-finals in Madrid and Rome before going down to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in Paris.

Overall, Federer went 9-2 during the clay swing, beating Stan Wawrinka to reach his eighth Roland Garros semi-final, but Nadal proved too much on the dirt as the Spaniard registered his first win over the Swiss in five years.

Federer went on to win a record 10th Halle title and finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, failing to convert two match points in a thrilling five-set final that the Serbian took 13-12 in a deciding set tiebreak.

The legendary Swiss has been carefully managing his schedule over the last five or so years in a bid to prolong his career as long as possible, but he also plans to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo next season as he chases an elusive singles gold medal.

“I’ve been debating with my team for a few weeks now or a month, what I should do in the summertime after Wimbledon in terms of also before the US Open and at the end of the day my heart decided I would love to play the Olympic Games again,” Federer said after an exhibition match in Tokyo.

“I carried the flag twice for Switzerland in Athens and Beijing as well, I got a gold and a silver so I’d love to play again, I’m very excited.”

Federer has bowed out at the quarter-final stage in his last two tournaments at the U.S. Open and Shanghai Masters to Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev respectively.

He will return to action next week at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, where he will be targeting a record 10th title.