Tokyo 2020: Roger Federer calls for end to Olympic uncertainty amid growing opposition to Games
- Former doubles gold medallist and 20-time grand slam champion says he has yet to decide if he will play in Tokyo
- He says Games organisers seem determined to press ahead but it would be up to individual athletes if they want to travel
The Olympics are set to run from July 23 to August 8 after being postponed in March last year over the coronavirus pandemic.
But Japan, battling a surge of infections, has extended until the end of May a state of emergency in its capital, Tokyo, and three areas.
“Honestly I don’t know what to think. I’m a bit between the two,” Federer, who won a doubles gold in the 2008 Beijing Games and a silver in singles four years later in London, told Swiss television station Leman Bleu on Friday.
“I would love to play in the Olympics, win a medal for Switzerland. It would make me especially proud. But if it doesn’t happen because of the situation, I would be the first to understand. I think what the athletes need is a decision: is it going to happen or is it not going to happen?
“At the moment, we have the impression that it will happen. We know it’s a fluid situation. And you can also decide as an athlete if you want to go. If you feel there’s a lot of resistance, maybe it’s better not to go. I don’t know.”