Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot
Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Gilles Simon of France during the men's singles final match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai October 12, 2014. Reuters

Roger Federer returned to Brisbane to start the 2015 season, which he hopes to deliver him his 18th Grand Slam title. The Swiss Maestro is hopeful to bag the title at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

"I would love to win this event," Roger Federer said to reporters Saturday. "I was close last year, after I had had a good week. I always like lifting trophies in a place that I have never been able to. I am unbelievably pumped up for this week. It's a really good field, with a lot of promising players."

In the event that the Swiss Maestro wins four more matches, he will be the third tennis player since 1968 to reach the 1,000 match wins milestone apart from Ivan Lendl with 1,071 and Jimmy Connors with 1,253.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion further added that he had a great time playing and spending time with his family last year at the Brisbane International. He said that the tournament kicked off a great season for him and he was delighted to end the season with a victory in the Davis Cup.

Roger Federer is set to face the wild card John Millman or a qualifier in the Brisbane second round on Wednesday. Although he lost at the 2014 Brisbane International final to Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer managed to win the most matches last season. According to the world no. 2, he had been untroubled during the off-season because of a back injury and he is already fit and ready for the Brisbane tournament, following a well-received debut.

Meanwhile, just recently, Federer was visited by some famous footballers as he was training in Dubai. The Swiss Maestro was joined and posed for a photograph with former Arsenal Robert Pires and Thierry Henry as well as former FC Barcelona Eric Abidal and former Chelsea Nicolas Anelka. In preparation for the Brisbane International tournament, Federer had his training in Dubai. After Brisbane, the world no. 2 is set to compete at the Australian Open, which begins on January 19.

To reach the author of this article e-mail danaalyssaramos@gmail.com

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