'I can still win Slams' - Federer has no plans to retire

Injury-hit Roger Federer said Thursday he h plans to retire and insisted he was still in good eugh shape to win Grand Slams after crashing out of Australian Open semi-finals to vak Djokovic. 38-year-old fell to Serb 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-3, mitting he only h "a three percent" chance as he nursed a groin injury picked up in his quarter-final epic against Tennys Sandgren, where he saved seven match points. Despite disappointment, Swiss great believes he is still a force to be reckoned with.

"Yes, I do believe that," world number three said, when asked he if he was confident about ding to his 20 Grand Slam titles.

"I think by having year that I h last year, also with what I have in my game, how I'm playing, I do feel that, yeah." 

Federer, who reached last year's Roland Garros semi-finals and lost a five-set Wimbledon final to Djokovic, said he hopes to return to Melbourne in 2021 for a crack at a seventh title.

"You never kw what future holds. Especially my , you don't kw," he said.

"I'm confident. I'm happy how I'm feeling, to be honest. I got through a good, nice training block. plans to retire.

"From that standpoint, we'll see how year goes, how everything is with family. We'll go from re. Of course, I hope to be back." Federer was seen around Melbourne Park before match with tape on his upper right leg and re were even rumours that he might pull out of Djokovic showdown.

But that is t in 38-year-old's nature -- he has only ever given up walkovers four times in his long career, and never retired from any of his more than 1,500 matches over two deces.

'Today was horrible'

Federer said he took a day off after Sandgren match and barely warmed up for Djokovic, but felt he was in good eugh shape to at least give Serb a run for his money.

"Today was horrible, to go through what I did. Nice entrance, nice sendoff, and in between is one to forget because you kw you have a three percent chance to win," he said.

"It's frustrating. (But) I don't think I would have gone on court if I felt like I h chance to win. We saw I was still being able to make a match out of it.

"Who kws maybe how he feels as well. He's a great, great player. We kw that. He makes you hit balls. He serves well, he returns well, he moves well. He's mentally very tough." Federer said injury did t appear to be serious.

"I'm very happy that I don't feel any worse than when I started. That's super-encouraging. So I think we'll go from re and we'll see if I need to do ar scan or t," said tennis legend.

Djokovic said he h "huge respect" for resilient Federer's record of never retiring from a match. "I did have retirements throughout my career. I kw how it feels when you're hurt on court," he said. "It's an amazing fact that he has never retired his match, t a single match, throughout his career. Huge respect for that."