Olympic Tennis Champion Opens Preschool

(ATR) Olympian Roger Federer is taking time away from the tennis court to focus on charity.

The Swiss tennis star visited Malawi this week to open a preschool as part of his work for his foundation. The Roger Federer Foundation, founded in 2003, works tohelp disadvantaged children throughout southern Africa and Switzerland to promote their access to education and sports.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Federer described how it felt to see the impact of his foundation's work in Malawi.

"It's like meeting a friend you haven't seen for 20 years."

The 33-year-old, whose mother is South African,said that "you can get very sentimental and sad" about poverty in places like Malawi. Federer commented on the children he met who remained positive despite their limited opportunities.

On a competitive note, Federer did tell the AP that he plans to start training again soon for the U.S. tennis season and the 2015 U.S. Open.

Federer lost to Serbian tennis player NovakDjokovic, currentlythe number-one-ranked player in the world, on July 12 in the Wimbledon final.

Reflecting on the tournament to the AP, Federer said, "After a tournament like that, you take away the good things, but then you also take away the things that maybe you could have done better, because you can always do better.

He added, "Thankfully, in tennis, we have a lot of highlights during the year, which make it actually easier to digest a loss like that."

Federer, who is number two in the world ranking for men's singles right now, has 17 Grand Slam titles.

With the 2016 Rio Olympics on the horizon, Federer and men's singles players positioned in the top 56 tier of the world rankings will work to maintain their standing come June of next year.

As of June 6, 2016, the International Tennis Federation will grant players within the world's top 56 direct qualification for the Rio Games.

Away from the road to Rio 2016, Federer told the AP that he would pursue his charity work "way past" his playing days in the years to come.

Written byNicole Bennett

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