Roger Federer announced Sunday he will play at the French Open, and the Swiss star will prepare for it on home clay at a tournament in Geneva next month.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion revealed his plans on his official Twitter page.
“Happy to let you know that I will play Geneva and Paris. Until then I will use the time to train. Can’t wait to play in Switzerland again,” Federer wrote.
Federer will aim for his 104th career title at the Geneva Open, which takes place May 16-22 – shortly before the French Open begins in Paris on May 30. Federer, 39, won his only French Open in 2009 and lost to 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinals two years ago.
He did not play there last year.
MONTE CARLO MASTERS: Stefanos Tsitsipas won the tournament without dropping a set, beating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 for his first title this year and sixth overall.
Fourth-seeded Tsitsipas was in dominant form as he edged 4-3 ahead of the sixth-seeded Russian in their career meetings, having also beaten him on clay last year in the French Open quarterfinals.
The 22-year-old Greek won his last title in February last year at the Open 13 indoor tournament in Marseille — just weeks before France went into lockdown for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.
SOCCER
EUROPEAN SOCCER: A group of elite clubs split European soccer on Sunday with plans to walk away from the Champions League to create a breakaway competition, drawing an angry response and the threat of legal action from UEFA.
The moves to quit the existing structures in an apparent grab for more money and power include Real Madrid, Barcelona, the American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United, Juventus and AC Milan. No German or French clubs have signed up.
The Super League plans, which were first leaked in January, have escalated into a greater threat to implement them on the eve of UEFA’s planned announcement of a new format for the Champions League. While the long-standing existing competition that grew from the European Cup would increase to 36 teams and add more games as desired by the wealthiest clubs, they remained frustrated that UEFA would not grant more control of the sale of television and commercial rights.
Still, the European Club Association’s board, which is led by Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, and the UEFA clubs’ competitions committee on Friday had signed up to expanding the Champions League from 2024 – ahead of ratification by the UEFA executive committee, including Agnelli, on Monday.
ENGLAND: Kelechi Iheanacho scored the only goal as Leicester advanced to its first FA Cup final since 1969 by beating Southampton, 1-0.
The match was the first with spectators at London’s Wembley Stadium in more than a year, as a socially distanced crowd of 4,000 saw Leicester set up a final against Chelsea on May 15.
• Mason Greenwood’s two second-half goals and a stoppage-time goal from Edinson Cavani helped Manchester United close the gap on Premier League leader Manchester City to eight points with a 3-1 win over Burnley.
FRANCE: Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain scored in the last seconds of injury time to beat Saint-Etienne 3-2 and close the gap on league leader Lille to one point.
MLS: Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored twice, Sacha Kljestan added another and the LA Galaxy rallied to beat Inter Miami 3-2 in the season opener for both teams.
Kljestan bent a left-footer around a defender and off the near post to break a 2-2 tie in the 81st minute. It was the 35-year-old’s first goal since 2019 for Orlando City.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen eased to victory in an incident-packed Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, Italy as he comfortably beat Lewis Hamilton, who almost crashed out after a rare error from the world champion.
Hamilton hit a wall in a race that was temporarily suspended following a separate incident involving his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas.
Verstappen, 23, led for the majority of the race on the wet Imola track, and the Red Bull driver beat Hamilton by 22 seconds for the 11th win of his career.
Verstappen almost threw victory away as he nearly lost control of his car during the restart after the red flag, but he recovered and gradually pulled away from the field.
INDYCAR: Alex Palou celebrated his move to Chip Ganassi Racing with his first career victory by beating a pair of series champions in the season-opening race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Spaniard used a two-stop strategy on the picturesque permanent road course to take control of the race but still had to hold off hard-charging Will Power and Scott Dixon over the closing laps. The 24-year-old beat Power by .4016 seconds to claim his first win in his first race for the storied Ganassi organization.
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