Agence France-Presse
London, June 23: Fifteen years after famously stunning Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, seven-time champion Roger Federer returns to the All England Club with his career at a crossroads and his confidence at crisis point.
The 34-year-old Swiss, holder of a record 17 Grand Slam titles, is without a major since Wimbledon in 2012 and is enduring arguably the toughest year of his career. He missed the French Open with injury and has also failed to add to his 88 titles this year, his longest drought since 2000. To supplement his woes he has suffered back-to-back semifinal losses in Stuttgart and Halle, both on grass which has been his preferred surface of domination.
But the Swiss is adamant that he can still be a winner even if clinching an eighth crown at Wimbledon, also called ‘Big W’ would make him the oldest ever champion surpassing Arthur Ashe who was a month shy of his 32nd birthday when he lifted the trophy in 1975.
“I think if my movement gets better and then the baseline game improves a little bit, I’ll be better on the big points, on the return and also in less trouble on my own service games,” Federer told reporters here.
“But I’m okay and I’m pleased. I’m feeling now we’ve got enough time before Wimbledon to get ready for that,” added the genial Swiss.
The fact that Federer has reached the last two Wimbledon finals is testament to his capacity to surprise both his supporters and doubters. The problem, however, is that he lost both those championship matches to Novak Djokovic, who is again the top seed this time around.
Djokovic leads their head-to-head only by 23-22, but has claimed their last four clashes at the Majors. Federer hasn’t defeated the Serb at a Slam since the Wimbledon semifinals in 2012.
“Is Djokovic now the man to beat? Absolutely. Does he deserve to be where he is? 100 per cent. But is he beatable? Yes, of course he is. I beat him three times last year,” Federer asserted.
Federer also has a clear idea about when to retire. “If the body doesn’t want to do it, if the mind doesn’t want to do it, if my wife and kids don’t want me to do it, I’ll stop tomorrow. Zero problem,” added the 17-time Grand Slam winner.