London
Tennis great Roger Federer has called on Olympics organisers to end the uncertainty around the Tokyo Games, with the 20-times Grand Slam winner saying he was still in two minds whether to compete.
The Olympics are set to run from July 23 to Aug. 8 after being postponed in March last year over the coronavirus pandemic.
But Japan, battling a surge of infections, has extended until the end of May a state of emergency in its capital, Tokyo, and three areas. “Honestly I don’t know what to think.
I’m a bit between the two,” Federer, who won a doubles gold in the 2008 Beijing Games and a silver in singles four years later in London, told Swiss television station Leman Bleu on Friday. “I would love to play in the Olympics, win a medal for Switzerland.
It would make me especially proud. But if it doesn’t happen because of the situation, I would be the first to understand.
“I think what the athletes need is a decision: is it going to happen or is it not going to happen? “At the moment, we have the impression that it will happen.
We know it’s a fluid situation. And you can also decide as an athlete if you want to go. If you feel there’s a lot of resistance, maybe it’s better not to go. I don’t know.”—AP
