Roger Federer switching back to old racket through the U.S. Open

Roger Federer said that he will do some racket testing at a later date. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) MASON, Ohio -- After opening his title defense at the

Roger Federer said that he will do some racket testing at a later date. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

MASON, Ohio -- After opening his title defense at the Western & Southern Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday night, Roger Federer confirmed that he has decided to switch back to his 90-square inch racket frame.

Federer suffered his worst loss at a Grand Slam in over 10 years at Wimbledon, losing to 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round. After that loss, Federer decided to shake things up and began testing a new Wilson prototype with a larger 98-square inch frame. He played with the blacked-out racket at two clay tournaments in Hamburg, Germany and Gstaad, Switzerland, and though he told reporters on Saturday that he intended to continue to use the new frame, he was spotted practicing with his old K-Factor Six One earlier this week in Cincinnati.

"I just felt like, you know what, I'm going to play with the old racquet through the US Open right now, and I'm going to do more racquet testing when I have, again, some more time after the U.S. Open," Federer told reporters after his opening-round victory. "Yeah, I was playing for a month with the black one, but it's a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best."