Roger Federer "behind" on fitness but still expects Geneva return

Roger Federer is still working to regain full fitness as he returns from knee surgery, but is on schedule to return at the Gonet Geneva Open in three weeks, according to his coaches.

"In conditioning, Roger is still behind," co-coach Severin Luthi told *SRF*, but indicated he would compete in Geneva. "It is always special to play in Switzerland."

Federer, who tweeted pictures from a practice session in Bern on Tuesday, is scheduled to play the clay ATP 250 event as a warm-up for Roland Garros.

The Basel-born 20-time Grand Slam champion played his first event in more than a year in Doha in March. He defeated Daniel Evans in his opener before falling to eventual champion Nikoloz Basilashvili.

Since then, Federer's training has been "very good," co-coach Ivan Ljubicic told *Gazzetta dello Sport*. "He should be able to return at Geneva. He showed at Doha he is always capable of achieving something, so we are confident," said Ljubicic, adding that he wants Federer "to play a number of matches to regain his rhythm. We would like to win big titles."

Next up on Federer's schedule following Roland Garros would be the ATP grass-court event at Halle, followed by Wimbledon.

Federer is No. 8 in the rankings.