Roger Federer confident of returning to top

Federer said he was impressed by the level of tennis on show during his absence from the tour. He said the so-called "Next Generation" of players such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev plus 2020 US Open winner Dominic Thiem would all prove a much tougher challenge now. "One thing is for sure, I would expect that the generation of Tsitsipas, Zverev, Rublev, Medvedev have all again gotten better naturally because they have more experience," he said. "Dominic won a Slam in the meantime. Rafa, Novak are still where they are. You would think that the game has improved again. "For me, that's going to be an extra challenge, extra hard for me to find that level, but I guess I knew from the get-go it was never going to be simple, regardless of whether I was going to be out for three months or almost a year and a half."

Clay and confidence

The Geneva clay court tournament should test what sort of shape Federer is in ahead of the May 30-June 13 French Open before he targets his two major goals -- a ninth Wimbledon title and a singles gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Top seed Federer received a bye into the second round and will play his first match on Tuesday, against either Australia's Jordan Thompson or Spain's Pablo Andujar. "At the moment I am healthy and able to get matches again under my belt, getting used to being out on court, serving for hours and then recovering and doing the same thing again -- that will all just increase my confidence," said the former world number one, now eighth in the rankings. "I feel really comfortable with Geneva, Paris, Halle, Wimbledon and I think it's a good schedule for me to come back this way." Federer said it would take him 10 matches or so to be able to assess where he is at on his bid to return to the top of his sport. But he accepted: "There are question marks around my level right now." 

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