The Swiss likes to keep it simple when it comes to his post-match recovery.
We’ve all hear that tennis players like nothing more than to dip their tired, aching bodies into a freezing cold ice bath after a match. It’s trendy. It’s smart. And it’s necessary.
Not for Roger Federer.
The Swiss admitted that he’s not buying into the ice bath craze after his Day 7 win over Marton Fucsovics at the Australian Open. He was asked how he went about the business of getting his 38-year-old body to recover after his grueling four hour and three-minute encounter with John Millman.
Federer, it seems, like to recover the old-fashioned way.
“I'm a guy that doesn't do ice baths,” he said. “I tried it once, didn't like it, so I'll never do it again.”
Federer added that his recovery game hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years.
“I'm still doing the things like I used to: trying to sleep enough, take a massage and a stretch,” he said. “That's it really. Do that for as much as I can to get ready.”
Federer said that he was thankful to get through his fourth round match with Marton Fucsovics in just over two hours. And also that he’s feeling nothing unusual beyond the typical fatigue that comes with Grand Slam tennis.
“Most important is that you're not carrying any injury away from a match like this because fatigue is one thing, you can deal with that with I think mental strength,” he said. “Actually I'm very happy how I'm feeling considering my age, considering everything I've gone through throughout my career. The toughness of the first real tough match of the season for me after having not played these kind of matches for some time, it's nice to see that the work I did in the off-season paid off.”
