Tiley comments on Federer's future Australian Open plans: "We fully expect to see him back next year"

A lot of speculation of course takes place when it comes to Roger Federer's future and how long he can go on for as a professional tennis player.

Federer himself quickly denied plans to retire after his semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open; while also saying that it depends how the next few months go in terms of a number of factors.

"You never know what the future holds. But especially my age, you don't know. I'm confident," said Federer.

"I'm happy how I'm feeling, to be honest. I got through a good, nice training block. No plans to retire. From that standpoint, we'll see how the year goes, how everything is with the family. We'll go from there. Of course, I hope to be back."

Craig Tiley, Tournament Director at the Australian Open is someone who expects Federer to be back and said that in his eyes he still has the drive.

"I would be very wary of speculating on the end of Roger Federer’s career. He is playing as well as ever and certainly still has the hunger. Roger has an obvious joy in his game," said Tiley.

"He clearly still very much loves playing tennis. Roger has proven time and time again, that he has incredible powers of recovery and endurance. With all that in mind, we fully expect to see him back next year."