Federer clears the air with Swiss, says criticism is OK for him

BASEL - Roger Federer has cleared the air with the Swiss tennis federation over his last-minute decision to pull out of the Davis Cup tie in Kazakhstan in September, the 16-time Grand Slam champion said on Monday.

Federer received rare criticism in his homeland when he withdrew two days before the tie. Switzerland went on to lose 5-0 and were condemned to the Europe/Africa group, effectively the competition's second division.

"Criticism is OK but I think most of the people actually understood my decision," Federer said after overcoming Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Swiss Indoors on Monday when the Ukrainian retired hurt.