Tennis legend Roger Federer claims that "it is a pleasure" for him to know that he can still be in a position to beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in a competitive match and the rankings really does not mean too him much at the age of 37.
Federer went on to express his thoughts when he lost the world number one position in the ATP rankings to Novak Djokovic, who defeated the 10-time French Open winner in the final of the 2019 Australian Open.
His bid to win the first Grand Slam event of this calendar year was not successful since he was knocked out of the 2019 Australian Open by Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece last month.
Federer is in Geneva and that is where he revealed that being the world number one for the 20-time Grand Slam winner no longer in the list of his priorities.
"For me the ranking, at 37 years old, is no longer really the priority," Roger Federer said at a press conference in Geneva.
"But the idea for me is to be in good health, to know that I can win tournaments, to know that I can beat them (Djokovic and Nadal), and after that it is a pleasure."
"As soon as you feel that you have no chance and all, then it's a problem. Even if my ranking goes down further, it's not a problem for me."
"As long as I say I can win a Grand Slam as I did two years ago with a world ranking of 17, everything is in place. I prefer to be ranked 17th than third and not win a Grand Slam or tournament."
This year's Laver Cup will be held in Geneva in September and Federer is hopeful that Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka could join him and Nadal in the Europe team.
"I can't wait. We talked about it in Melbourne, we talked about how excited he (Nadal) was and me too that we're going to be on the same team again," Federer said.
"We don't know the opponents' team quite yet, it's a good thing Rafa is going to be on my team, and it's on home soil for me in Switzerland, it's indoors, I like indoors."
