Roger Federer returns to action this week at the Swiss Indoors Basel

WATCH—Highlights from Novak Djokovic's triumph in Shanghai:

Roger Federer is returning to one of his happiest hunting grounds this week at the Swiss Indoors Basel—a tournament he’s won eight times. The Swiss star won the event in 2006, '07, '08, '10, '11, '14, '15 and '17, and has also reached another five finals: in '00 (losing to Thomas Enqvist), '01 (losing to Tim Henman), '09 (losing to Novak Djokovic), '12 and '13 (losing to Juan Martin del Potro both times).

Federer has reached the final the last 11 times he’s played Basel and has put together an incredible 66-9 record over the years. He’s also won his last 15 matches in a row at the ATP 500-level event.

“It’s great. I love playing here,” Federer said during his run to the title last year. “It’s always beautiful to be back. I always enjoy myself here. It’s great to have a lot of my friends and family around.”

Winning a ninth title will be anything but easy for Federer, though. In the first round he’ll face No. 35-ranked Filip Krajinovic, a finalist at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris last year who was just four spots out of the seeds. In the second round he could face No. 36-ranked John Millman, who beat him in a fourth-round stunner at this year’s US Open.

Millman faces No. 52-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff in his first round match.

“John, well, I love his intensity,” Federer said of Millman after the US Open loss. “He reminds me of David Ferrer and those other guys that I admire a lot when I see them, when I see how they train, the passion they have for the game. He’s got a positive demeanor about himself on and off the court.”

Should the world No. 3 make it through his first two rounds, there’s a slew of big names that could be waiting for him later on in the draw: No. 5 Alexander Zverev, No. 6 Marin Cilic, as well as two more Top-20 players in Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jack Sock.

Three-time Grand Slam champion and fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka pulled out of the Basel draw on Monday and ended his 2018 season. Another big name who won’t be in Basel this year is two-time champion del Potro. He withdrew due to a knee injury he suffered in Shanghai.

Basel is one of three ATP events that Federer has won eight or more times. He also has nine career titles in Halle and eight at Wimbledon.

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