A day after winning his first match back on the ATP after over a year hiatus, Roger suffered his first loss in his comeback campaign on Thursday against Nikoloz Basilashvili. After the 3-set battle, the Swiss was happy with his frist tournament back since the 2020 Australian Open. Roger had positive things to say, “I would have loved to play tomorrow, don’t get me wrong. But at the same time, I'm also happy to get a rest. I'm happy how I played today. I'm happy how I did yesterday."

“I’m happy I am back on the Tour. I'm pleased I came here to Doha. So it's really, really a positive return for me. I'm really happy.”

Despite the loss, the World No. 6 was happy to get two three-set matches under his belt in Doha.

“I come from so far away that I'm actually happy that I was able to play back-to-back three-set matches against top players. That's an important step forward to me,” Federer said. “I'm actually happy how I felt today on court overall. I felt better against Dan [Evans], physically I would think naturally. But I think Basilashvili plays a totally different game to Dan.

“I think from that standpoint today it was a completely different game, and that's why I also probably struggled a little bit more.”