Paris (AFP)

Roger Federer announced Monday that he will compete in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in hopes of winning the gold medal in singles, the only major title he misses.

"I debated with my team for several weeks, even months, about what I had to do in the summer of 2020, after Wimbledon and before the US Open.In the end, my heart decided to play the Games again, "he said on the sidelines of an exhibition for one of his sponsors.

The Swiss player who turns 39 on August 8, on the eve of the closing of the Tokyo Games, won the Olympic gold doubles with Stan Wawrinka in Beijing in 2008 and silver singles in London in 2012 where he was defeated in the final by Andy Murray. He did not participate in the Rio Games in 2016.

Currently N.3 worldwide, Federer holds the record for the number of weeks (310) spent at the top of the world hierarchy, as well as the record (20) number of Grand Slam titles, having won in each of the four major tournaments . He has also won 6 times the Masters which gather at the end of the year the 8 best players of the season.

His big opponents Novak Djokovic (N.1) and Rafael Nadal (N.2) have already announced their intention to participate in the Tokyo Games.

© 2019 AFP