Murray Calls Federer’s Late-Night Effort ‘Inspirational’

Roger Federer battled deep into the Paris night as Saturday turned to Sunday during his tight third-round victory against Dominik Koepfer at Roland Garros. The 39-year-old’s peers certainly took notice.

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray, who had right hip surgeries in January 2018 and January 2019, was watching closely. The Scot shared his praise for the Swiss legend on Twitter before the match ended.

“I’m not bothered by the outcome of this match at all,” Murray wrote. “Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of two knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12:30 a.m. getting fired up is inspirational to me. Do what you ❤️.”

Im not bothered by the outcome of this match at all. Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of 2 knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12.30am getting fired up is inspirational to me. Do what you ❤️

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) June 5, 2021

Murray, currently No. 123 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, is working his way back to form as he tries to find his best game following his second hip surgery. The 34-year-old last competed in Rome, where he played doubles alongside Liam Broady and trained with stars including World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Federer is into the fourth round on the Parisian terre battue, and he will next play big-hitting Matteo Berrettini. If the eighth seed gets by the Italian, he could potentially face Djokovic in the quarter-finals.