Daily Times

ZURICH: Tennis great Roger Federer has called on Olympics organisers to end the uncertainty around the Tokyo Games, with the 20-times Grand Slam winner saying he was still in two minds whether to compete. The Olympics are set to run from July 23 to Aug. 8 after being postponed in March last year over the coronavirus pandemic. But Japan, battling a surge of infections, has extended until the end of May a state of emergency in its capital, Tokyo, and three areas. “Honestly I don’t know what to think. I’m a bit between the two,” Federer, who won a doubles gold in the 2008 Beijing Games and a silver in singles four years later in London, told Swiss television station Leman Bleu on Friday. “I would love to play in the Olympics, win a medal for Switzerland. It would make me especially proud. But if it doesn’t happen because of the situation, I would be the first to understand. “I think what the athletes need is a decision: is it going to happen or is it not going to happen? “At the moment, we have the impression that it will happen. We know it’s a fluid situation. And you can also decide as an athlete if you want to go. If you feel there’s a lot of resistance, maybe it’s better not to go. I don’t know.” A petition calling for the cancellation of the rescheduled Games garnered 350,000 signatures in nine days and was submitted to organisers on Friday, raising new questions about whether the Olympics should go ahead.