Roger Federer makes schedule request ahead of surprise Italian Open appearance
ROGER FEDERER reportedly told Italian Open organisers he wanted to play his opening match on Wednesday afternoon.
Roger Federer confirms he WILL play at the Italian Open
On Saturday, Federer announced in a video on his social media channels that he would be travelling to Rome to compete at the Masters 1000 event.
He said: "Hello everybody just finished speaking to the team and happy to say I’m coming back to Rome to play in Italy.
"Can’t wait. So exciting. It’s been too long. I’ll see you there.
"Ciao tutti. Bye."
The Swiss star had not officially committed himself to the event but was added to the entry list and placed in the draw.
After losing to Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarter-finals, Federer said he would speak with his team before deciding whether to make the trip to Italy and the 37-year-old has surprisingly decided he wants some more clay court matches in his legs.
And Amazon Prime analyst Nick Lester revealed Federer had asked to play on Wednesday afternoon, which is the last day of second-round matches.
Federer has a first-round bye so will play either Frances Tiafoe or Joao Sousa in the second round.
In an unprecedented move, Italian Open officials have doubled the prices for Wednesday's action.
Prices have risen from around €60 (£52) to €132 (£114) to reflect Federer's appearance and in a statement the Italian Tennis Federation were unapologetic.
They said: "We have doubled the price of tickets for Wednesday, the day Federer will play.
“We want to reward fans who had bought tickets before they knew Federer would play.”
ROGER FEDERER'S PROJECTED ITALIAN OPEN DRAW
First Round - Bye
Second Round - Frances Tiafoe/Joao Sousa
Third Round - Borna Coric
Quarter-Final - Stefanos Tsitsipas/Fabio Fognini
Semi-Final - Rafael Nadal/Dominic Thiem
Final - Novak Djokovic