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Roger Federer has revealed that he had a conversation with Pete Sampras about retirement five years ago. The Swiss maestro is looking to win the No.9 Wimbledon title when the competition kicks off on Monday. And victory in London would see him win the No.21 Grand Slam, placing him ahead of Rafael Nadal.
The Swiss maestro has struggled with injuries in recent years but has now recovered and is looking for more Grand Slam glory when Wimbledon starts on Monday.
And, before that, the 39-year-old revealed that he spoke with Sampras about his retirement five years ago.
Federer also explained how he never initially planned to play for this long as his position has changed in recent years.
“Really, I don’t think my goal was to play to 39 or 40 or more,” he said,
“Maybe it was more like 35. Borg retired early. Agassi played a little longer. Edberg and Becker and Pistol (Pete Sampras), they were all retiring earlier.
“I remember a conversation with Pistol 10 years ago. He wondered how much time I still had in the tank. It was when I was just 30 years old.
“He thought I was coming to the end just because for him it was normal – at 31-33 years old, with the career we’ve had, all the sacrifices in a way that you have to make – that he’s difficult to keep growing for more years on tour.
“I think I made the most of it. I enjoyed my travels, had fun with my wife Mirka, the family and the team. I kind of persisted.
“No, the goal was not to play until the age of 40. All of this has mainly come about in recent years.
“I never thought that with the subsequent surgeries I had, I would always go. I will see the results and if they will come back. That’s why Wimbledon is clearly very important to me at the moment.
While the coronavirus crisis still dragged on, Federer also admitted that Wimbledon was different from before – but instead they had set up a fantastic bubble.
“It’s totally different from the last 20 years I’ve been coming here,” he said.
“We arrived as a family, the children were running everywhere. We organized the races, set up the house and all that. Here we are just with the team.
“It took some getting used to on the first day or two, figuring out where we’re allowed to go, what we’re allowed to do – same with on-site protocols. By now I got used to it. I hug him.
“If I think back to everything I went through last year and a bit with the knee injury, also with the pandemic, it’s great that Wimbledon is back. I’m glad to be here. Wimbledon is trying to put the best bubble possible.
Federer won doubles gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and won singles silver four years later after losing to Andy Murray.
But the veteran won’t be committing to next month’s tournament just yet, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest.
“If I play really well or really bad here I think it has an impact on how everything might look for the summer.
“My feeling is that I would love to go to the Olympics. I would like to play as many tournaments as possible. I wish I could tell you more.
“Right now, things are not as easy as they once were. With age, you have to be more selective, you can’t play everything.
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