But Federer, who won his lone French title in 2009, is quick to quash that line of thinking.

“I usually go one year at a time, and the other day I just spoke with my team about the clay-court season next year,” he said. “I was asking, ‘Anybody have any ideas yet?’”

Knowing Federer’s orderly ways, it is difficult to imagine that he has not planned his retirement down to the last gold watch. But he insisted that he was handling the process as he would an extended rally: trusting his instincts.

“I heard rumors that people said I definitely wanted to play the Tokyo Olympics next year, and that’s when I’m going to retire, but I never said anything like that,” he said. “I really don’t know. I always said, ‘The more I think about retirement, the more I am already retired.’ People ask me, what are you going to do next? And I say, ‘Well, in a way I’m not quite sure, because I feel if I plan everything for my post-career, I feel like I’m halfway there.’ I think it would not affect my performance per se, but maybe my overall desire to want to do well.”

[By the numbers: Roger Federer’s 101 titles]

Performance has not been a problem for Federer in 2019; he has won titles in Dubai and Miami and reached the final in Indian Wells, Calif. His return to clay-court tennis has been encouraging if not yet triumphant. He lost in three sets to the clay-court terror Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open and then withdrew from the Italian Open with a sore leg after saving two match points in his round-of-16 victory over Borna Coric.

Federer’s goal was to protect his chances of playing in Paris, and after several days of practice at Roland Garros, he appears ready to slide in earnest on the red clay that he finds closer to “powder” than the grittier clay used elsewhere on tour.

His last match in Paris was a straight-set quarterfinal defeat to his Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka in 2015. He actually came back to Roland Garros in 2016, but withdrew before the tournament with knee and back problems. He skipped the 2017 and 2018 events to focus on other priorities.