Roger Federer sets sights on winning Stuttgart Open in 2017

Swiss maestro Roger Federer has set sights on winning the Stuttgart Open next year as he looks to return from a long lay-off due to a knee injury. The 35-year-old tennis legend has had an injury plagued 2016, which has also seen him struggle for form and has not win a single ATP title this year.

However, the 17-time Grand Slam winner is looking to get back in action and compete for titles in 2017, recently confirming that he is aiming to return early next year in order to take part in the Australian Open and the Hopman Cup.

In a video posted by the Mercedes Cup official account on social networking site Instagram, Federer revealed that he was looking to win the title at Stuttgart. If he makes it to the event, it will be the Swiss's second consecutive appearance at the grass courts of Germany with Federer reaching the semi-finals of the event last year, only to lose to youngster Dominic Thiem in the last four.

"I'm really working hard to get ready for 2017 and to play the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart in June. I hope you can be there and follow me. This last time I came really close, but not close enough to win the title and drive home in a nice Mercedes Benz. So, hopefully, I can do it in 2017", Federer said, as quoted by Tennis World USA.

Federer, who holds the record for spending the most amount of time at the top of the ATP rankings, an astonishing 302 weeks, is now ranked number 16 in the world, his lowest place in the rankings in more than a decade. With Scot Andy Murray and Serbia's Novak Djokovic in good form, he will know that 2017 will need to be a good year in terms of results for him to reach close to world number one ranking.

The Mercedes Cup held in Stuttgart, Germany is scheduled to be played between 10<sup>th and 18<sup>th of June in 2017.