Roger Federer has "Back Problem"

Roger Federer withdraws from Madrid Open

10:26 AM ET : ESPN.com news services

Roger Federer will not play in this week's Madrid Open due to a back injury.

The third-ranked Federer suffered the injury during practice Saturday and is withdrawing as a precaution. He described the back injury as "normal back things I've had in past."

"I'm OK with it," Federer told reporters. "At least I know what it is."

The 35-year-old Federer, a three-time winner in Madrid, had been a late addition to the field this week. The tournament was not originally on his schedule, but the former No. 1 decided to include it as part of his preparations for the French Open in three weeks.

He appeared fine in practice on Saturday but canceled his media appearance Sunday and had not been back to the courts, raising doubts about his participation.

Federer has played in only three events this season. He missed three months earlier this year after undergoing knee surgery following the Australian Open.

He is another high-profile name to drop out of the Madrid tournament. On Friday, Serena Williams announced that she would not play in the tournament because of illness.

"I'd rather play it safe and get ready for Rome," Federer said. "If I can't play Rome, it's not the end of the world, but hopefully I'll get to play."

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, defending champion Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka remain in the men's draw.

Information from The Associated Press and the Press Association contributed to this report.

 

So many professional athletes have back or other pain. I wonder how much of that comes from the pressure they put on themselves to win and to be perfect. I recently read this from Serena Williams:

(In a 2015 interview): “You don’t understand me. I’m just about win.”

“I’ve always said that I’m insatiable (about winning in tennis).

“For all their practice, preparation and confidence, even the best competitors in every sport have a voice of doubt inside them that says they are not good enough. I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.”

I guess pain is one of the prices pro athletes pay for fame and trophies, and lots of money.

I loved playing golf and tennis although I was not any good at either. I just loved playing. No monkey was on my back.

 

The same thing happened to Pete Sampras at this point in his career. Pete started to experience back problems too. 35 years old in tour tennis is pretty old, Andre Agassi, one of the fittest retired at 36. The pressure from the up and coming teenagers and others is tough. It's a natural progression in the modern game where there is so much money and competition now. Roger Federer had an arthro knee surgery after the Aussie caused after "walking his daughter in the park". I saw him play on TV the just before that "fatal" walk and he moved just fine with no trace of injury--he has some of the best movement in the game. He is the father of two sets of twins now and I would think that's a lot of pressure to be a good dad and arguably history's best tennis player. My call is it's TMS.

 

The age is very interesting. Age 35 is when I went from a normal active guy to all of these TMS issues that started popping up. I am not a professional athlete but this is about the time when when my work stress, kid stress, marriage stress etc.. all started to ramp up in a big way.