Roger Federer made it to Forbes’ “fab” list of the 40 most highly valued brands in sports, which includes sports game series and single-team events, teams and individual and team athletes.

Federer tied with NBA Superstar Lebron James at no. 3 in Forbes’ list of most valuable athlete brands. According to the site, the list is based on the athletes’ income, less their average endorsement earnings, in the same sport. The Swiss Maestro, along with the two-time NBA champ, has a brand value of $27 million (AU$37.2 million) for this year. The no. 1 and no. 2 spots belong to golf greats Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, with $30 million (AU$41.3 million) and $28 million (AU$38.5 million), respectively.

Federer is set to compete at the ATP Swiss Indoors Basel, along with Rafael Nadal and fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka. The 34-year-old Swiss, who is aiming for a seventh Basel title, will open his indoor tournament campaign against Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

Federer, seeded first in Basel, admitted he is happy to go through an exciting phase of his career playing in his hometown, as the 17-time Grand Slam winner hopes to bounce back from a shocking defeat against Spain’s Albert Vinolas-Ramos in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex.

“Ten years ago I would have only hoped to be still able to play at 34, yet here I am. I’m going through a really exciting phase of my career, of my life,” Federer said, reports Yahoo Sports.

Federer, who is preparing for his 16 th appearance at his hometown tournament in Basel, is also looking forward to end his year on a high note and regaining his spot as world No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. However, the Swiss athlete understands it will not be an easy task, considering the quality of tennis players that the current generation has.

“So a lot has happened and now it will be interesting to see the next two-three years,” Federer said, as quoted by the official website of ATP World Tour. “I think there's a good wave of players coming through and that will be a true test for our generation to see how we're going to handle it.”

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