King of Centre Court concerned with advancing age and injury issues
London: Having reclaimed his place on Wimbledon’s throne and indelibly etched his name in the tournament’s record books, Roger Federer dangled the unpalatable possibility that he may never grace its fabled lawns again.
Fourteen years after a pony-tailed Swiss starlet first soared into the tennis ether at The All England Club, Federer returned Sunday as a 35-year-old veteran to confirm his place as the greatest man ever to play the grass court slam with a record eighth title.
The 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Marin Cilic was a brutal demolition job, as the Croat’s blistered feet rendered him easy pickings.
Yet, having delivered a 19th major title for his army of fans on Centre Court, Federer admitted that his advancing age and last year’s injury issues meant he could not say for certain that he would be back to defend his crown next year. “I hope that I’m back, but there’s never a guarantee, especially not at 35,” he told reporters.
When he exited Wimbledon last year, he spent six months out of tennis through injury. Even the great man himself had doubts as to whether he could ever rekindle the magic that had delivered his last major title in 2012.
However, after the doubts were swept away by a sensational victory at the Australian Open in January, Federer made a game-changing career move to skip the clay-court season and focus on his favourite surface.
“I guess you would have laughed if I told you I was going to win two slams this year,” he said. “I also didn’t believe that I was going to win two. But, it’s incredible. I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last… But I have just got to always remind myself that health comes first at this point. If I do that, maybe things are actually possible I didn’t think were.”
Having surpassed Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who both had seven titles, tennis’s greatest male player has earned his place in the record books at a tournament whose history is so important to him.
“Wimbledon was always my favorite tournament, will always be my favorite tournament,” he said. “My heroes walked the grounds here and walked the courts here. Because of them, I think I became a better player.”
Surge in ranking
Madrid: Winning his eighth Wimbledon title allowed Swiss Roger Federer, the most acclaimed player in Grand Slams with 19 titles, to earn a spot in the top three of the men’s ATP World singles rankings released, Monday. He has now 6,545 points. Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal kept the top two positions respectively. The 35-year-old Swiss won five of the 14 tournaments this season, two Grand Slams (Australian Open and Wimbledon) and two 1,000 Masters (Indian Wells and Miami) in addition to Halle. Former World No.1 Novak Djokovic has been placed at fourth while Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov have acquired fifth to tenth spots respectively.
