Roger Federer is set to return to Bogota to play against Alexander Zverev in March as the exhibition match between them was cancelled due to fear of riots.
On their tour of South America, the 20-time Grand Slam champion was scheduled to play world no.7 Zverev in an exhibition match in Colombia’s capital city. The match remained to be played until the final few minutes where it was deemed no longer unsafe as the city was in a state of unrest.
Now, the Swiss maestro has confirmed they will be replaying the event in the month of March, 2020.
The event was highly anticipated as their match in Mexico broke records when it gathered the largest audience in tennis history. More than 42,000 fans came to match the tennis maestro face off against the young NextGen star.
Federer played an exhibition match in Colombia in 2012 where he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
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The match will now be played on March 24 next year at the Movistar Arena.
Federer revealed the players were warming up for the match and enjoying the pre-match shenanigans when things suddenly went pear-shaped because of the rioting.
He added:
“People need to get home and be safe and this was when I knew we shouldn’t play, it was too much stress and pressure for everybody. I had a bit of a breakdown. It was not going to be the dream match it was supposed to have been and I could feel it all falling apart. When I came back [to the locker room] I was emotionally wasted.”
Federer will also participating in another exhibition match against Rafael Nadal in Cape Town in South Africa on February 7 as a part of raising funds for African children.
He will also begin the season in Australia with the first Grand Slam as Federer aims to add the 21st major title to his collection while Zverev will try to be the first Next-Gen player to claim a Grand Slam title.
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