AFP
Roger Federer admitted his goal was to be "100 percent" back in business by the time Wimbledon rolls around after the 20-time Grand Slam title winner saw his comeback from 13 months out with injury end in Doha on Thursday.
The 39-year-old squandered a match point and was knocked out of the Qatar Open by Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili in his first tournament since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals in January 2020. Federer, who underwent two knee surgeries last season, secured the first set against world number 42 Basilashvili but eventually wilted and lost the quarter-final tie, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
It was just his second match of his return having also needed three sets to see off Britain's Dan Evans on Wednesday.
"I might be better earlier, that would be a bonus and that means I'm at 100 percent before Wimbledon," said Federer.
"I'll just see how much workload the body and the knee still take and what's the best way to prepare all the way for basically the beginning of the season for me, which is the grass court season."
Federer has won eight of his 20 majors at Wimbledon.
He was agonisingly close to a ninth in 2019 when he had two championship points in an epic five-set final loss to Djokovic.