“But Roger Federer was more than his stats. When he came into the tennis circuit, he was young brash, and arrogant but success made him humble and not the opposite. ”
Tennis legend Roger Federer put an end to his 24-year-long glorious career yesterday. He stated that it was a tough decision to take but he knew he couldn’t fight with his age as he was 41 years old and not getting any younger. For the last three years, Federer has been battling injuries and surgeries and was consistently trying to achieve match fitness but unfortunately, he couldn’t. He also announced that the Laver cup later this month will be his last tournament.
https://twitter.com/rogerfederer/status/1570402045085253632
From small city to conquering the world
Born on 8th August 1981 in a small city called Basel, Switzerland, Roger Federer started playing tennis at a very young age. He turned pro in 1998. Young Roger always dreamt to win Wimbledon at least once, which he had won record 8 times. He idolized US legend, Pete Sampras. When he beat Sampras in R16 of Wimbledon 2001, it was one of the stepping stones for what was about to come.
Arguably the greatest player of all time, Federer’s first single win was Milan Indoor tournament, in 2001. It took him two more years to finally win the coveted Wimbledon Championship. SW19’S favourite child first won it in 2003 and kept on winning matches consecutively till 2008, when another legend in making Rafael Nadal halted his quest to break Bjorn Borg’s record of five Wimbledon in a row. Nevertheless, he won it the next year and two more times in 2012 and 2017.
Purple Patch: From Prodigy to Legend
It was not just Wimbledon where Federer showed his prowess. He won Australian Open six times, second most in an Open Era. Won five US open trophies in a row from 2004-08 and eventually conquered the French Open in 2009 after losing to Nadal in 3 finals before that.
In 2004,06 and 07 he won 3 out of 4 Grand slams except for the French Open. In 2005, and ‘09, he ended up winning two. He reached the finals of all four slams in 2006, 07 and 09. Federer reached 10 consecutive Grand slam finals, a record in itself and also played 23 semifinals and 36 quarter-finals in a trot. He held the number one position consecutively for record 237 weeks, still unbreakable. Overall, he was number one for 310 weeks.
The drought of Slams in between
Roger Federer was winning it all till 2009 but apart from his rival Rafael Nadal, a new force in the name of Novak Djokovic was emerging and Federer started to show a decline. Well, the decline wasn’t statistically huge as he was still reaching finals and semis of the slams but he wasn’t winning it. Apart from the 2012 Wimbledon, the Swiss maestro didn’t win any slam Between the Australian Open 2010 and to Australian Open 2017.
Federer reached four finals and 10 Semifinals in between but ended up in disappointment. He lost three of them to Djoker and the other one to Nadal. In 2013, Federer slipped to number 7. He was out of the top 5 for the first time since 2003. In 2014 he was at the worst ranking since 2002, at number 8th.
As legends do, he worked on his game and reached back to number 2 again, only behind Djokovic. He also reached the finals of Wimbledon and US open eventually getting beaten by Djoker again.
2016: Beginning of an End
When Federer lost to Milos Raonic in 2016 Wimbledon, it was believed that this was the end of Roger Federer and father time was calling him. He slipped on the grass and was out for the rest of the season. For the first time since turning pro, he withdrew from the Slam(US Open) and everyone had made the mind that they had seen the last of the legend.
2017: Return to the top
In the Australian summer, Federer was trying to get back in the game. He decided to play Hopman Cup for the match practice. Nobody was still sure if Federer had still got it. But he returned with a bang in the very first slam since the injury. He played three five-setters in his quest for the trophy, defeated three top tens and eventually beat Rafael Nadal, his eternal rival in one of the greatest finals.
This year is also called arguably the greatest comeback ever. In 2017, Federer won 54 matches losing just five and also won two grand slams. Besides, he reclaimed the number one position.
More than the Stats
Here are a few statistics of Roger Federer’s 24-year-long career:
- Roger Federer had won 20 Grand Slams.
- He remained number 1 for 310 weeks including 237 weeks consecutively from 2004-2008.
- He won 1251 matches losing just 275 with a win percentage of 82.
- His best year came in 2006 when he won 92 matches with just 5 losses(95%).
- He never withdrew in between the match. It tells a lot about his fitness.
But Roger Federer was more than his stats. When he came into the tennis circuit, he was young brash, and arrogant but success made him humble and not the opposite. He became the nicest guy on the tour. Hardly we could see him losing his temper in between the game. His fellow players barely had anything negative to say. That’s what he had earned it.
With Federer’s retirement, it marks the end of the glorious chapter of tennis that we had in the name of the Big 3(Federer, along with Nadal and Djokovic). The other two will retire eventually too but the era like this won’t be coming back any time soon.
Farewell, thee, legend.
