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Federer set to play with Hingis in Rio

Fresh from a good vacation, Obi UAE Royals' Roger Federer is looking forward to the Dubai leg of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) which gets under way from December 14 to 16 at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.
Addressing the Press at the Madinat Jumeirah, the Swiss said he was keen to be a part of the IPTL as he sees it as a standalone event. "It (IPTL) is very creative, it has a lot of new ideas, like the team aspect to it as we are pretty lonely on tours. In my case I'm not because I have my family and a wonderful team around me. But in IPTL to have guys sitting courtside with you is quite different and I really enjoy that."
The winner of 17 Grand Slams may not have won one in 2015 but according to his own high standards the 34-year-old says it was a long but good year.
"It was important to go on a vacation as this year has been a long year but a good year as I had enough breaks and I didn't play a lot of tennis so it gave me enough rest but now it starts with my preparation for the IPTL. Getting some matches in and having some fun times, mixing it up with practice makes it some exciting times. And obviously I will play Brisbane. It's important for me to defend that title. It was special for me getting my 1,000th career match win there.
"Then the Australian Open. I want to do much better than I did last year. It was a big disappointment for me as I played really well that week but one particular match against (Andreas) Seppi I really struggled, I don't know why, but I did and I hope it's not going to happen again next year," said Federer as he prepared to depart for New Delhi on Saturday to take part in the third leg.
"I enjoyed myself playing in the IPTL last year. India was amazing. We had a wonderful team. The atmosphere was crazy. I really didn't know what to expect as I was pacing around the court a little, not sure if I was doing everything right according to the new rules.
"It was always a wish of mine to play in the IPTL and India was special for me as it was for the first time I played there.

I'm really excited to go back there tomorrow (Saturday). India is a fascinating country to go to," he said. Federer who hired Croatia's former world no 3 Ivan Ljubicic as coach in place of Stefan Edberg, who is stepping down after rejuvenating the champions the past two seasons, said he was happy with the season.
The Swiss praised his idol Stefan (Edberg), saying he is my main coach. "He knows my game better than anybody. We practised so many hours together. It's a great combination. The stint with him was incredible, winning a lot of tournaments. He's the nicest guy. I'm happy he wants to stay in touch and help me out."
Talking about playing with Martina Hingis in the Olympics, he said, I'm looking forward to playing with Martina in the mixed doubles.
"The Olympics is very important to me. Each one has been superb. Amazing experience and an eye-opener. It's also a great learning curve for me, I get inspired and motivated to carry the national flag as it's quite a proud moment which I've done twice.
"I'm looking forward to playing with Martina. It will be after 15 years. I always looked up to her. I thought she was the most unbelievable talent. She's almost my age and she was winning Grand Slams when I was still at the National tennis Centre. Shifting his focus on his nemesis Novak Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion said the Serb has taken the game to another level.
"But it will be tough for him to replicate his performance of 2015 or of 2011. People are going to have lot more expectations."
Drawing comparisons between Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, he said, they are totally different players. Novak has beaten me a couple of times but Nadal for me has been a difficult pl0ayer. I didn't have a problem with playing Novak earlier but he just became a very good player over the years, especially in recent years, he's playing to another level.
clareto@khaleejtimes.com