Roger Federer revealed that he will be playing this year's French Open, putting an end to speculations over his participation after he decided to withdraw from clay-court tournaments following his win in Miami Masters last month.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion also says that he is not heading to Paris to just make his fans happy with an appearance at the tournament, but is determined to "achieve something" at Roland Garros, starting 29 May. Notably, Federer has won only one French Open title - in 2009 - and also pulled out of last year's tournament due to injury issues.
Federer though worked his way back to the top-five of Men's singles rankings with strong performances on hard court early this season after missing the second half of 2016 with knee injury. The 34-year-old romped to victory at the Australian Open, beating arch rival Rafael Nadal in the title match and also won crowns at Indian Wells and Miami taking his win-loss record in the season to an impressive 19-1.
"I am entered in the French, and the plan is to play the French. I am eager to achieve something over there and not just show up and make people happy," Federer told Tennis Channel, after a charity match in the United States on Sunday.
"I could get on a roll, and you never know, even though Rafa [Nadal] is the favorite."
The Swiss champion had earlier revealed that he was looking to dominate grass again and labelled Nadal the favourite to win tournaments on clay. And the Spaniard has lived up to expectations taking his 10th titles in Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open. If early signs are anything to go by, the 14-time Grand Slam winner will be a tough nut to crack at the Roland Garros and is expected to take the title from last year's winner Novak Djokovic.
"Novak [Djokovic] winning there last year, I think they [Nadal and Djokovic] are going to be 1-2 favorites," Federer added.
