Roger Federer marked his long-awaited comeback from injury with a confident straight-sets victory over Dan Evans to help Switzerland defeat Great Britain in their Hopman Cup opener in Perth, Western Australia, on Monday.
The 35-year-old Federer, representing his nation in the mixed team event that he first won back in 2001, needed only an hour and three minutes to dispatch Evans 6-3, 6-4 in the Perth Arena.
Belinda Bencic then secured an unassailable 2-0 lead for the Swiss with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Heather Watson in the women’s singles before combining with Federer to secure a 3-0 clean sweep with victory in the mixed doubles.
It was Federer’s performance in the men’s singles that grabbed the attention though, with the 17-time grand slam winner showing little sign of rust despite missing six months of last season’s action with knee and back problems.
He opened the match with an ace before breaking Birmingham’s Evans in the sixth game of the first set. The British No3 effectively handed Federer the match by dropping serve in the second-set opener and half an hour later, the former world No1 had put the first point on the board for Switzerland.
Federer said: “I’d like to live it again. I’m a little bit sad it’s over, because it was so nice out there. I was actually quite emotional. I thought for a first match it was great, because my expectations were obviously quite low.”
Asked what keeps him going, Federer said: “I guess it depends also on how you get [injured]. I got hurt filling up a bath for my children. It’s not really the way I wanted to leave this game.”
Federer has not won a grand slam title since Wimbledon in 2012. “It would be nice to win another one, of course I’d even take two, three, four,” he said. “It’s tough at the top. A lot of good guys are there right now, a lot of young guys are coming up too. The gap’s definitely not very big but I will give it a chance. Let’s see what happens.”
Andy Murray, meanwhile, is hoping to start the new year in winning style on Tuesday when he begins the season at the Qatar Open against Jérémy Chardy, the Scot’s first appearance at the Doha tournament since 2014.
