Roger Federer’s retirement was one of the highlights of the 2022 season. A look at the farewell of a legend.
His circuit appearances became increasingly rare. The dreaded end of a majestic twenty-year adventure has been dreaded by the tennis world. At 41, and with a right knee that has caused him to drool in recent years, Roger Federer has decided to end his professional career.
The man with 103 singles titles including 20 Grand Slams greeted the microcosm of tennis last weekend in September at the O2 Arena in London, as part of the Laver Cup of which he is the creator. A final applause that comes fourteen months after his last match, then in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon against Hubert Hurkacz. Still physically diminished, the former world number 1 lined out only in doubles during this event across the Channel.
All federal sentiments.#CoppaLaver pic.twitter.com/WKjhcADFoe
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 24, 2022
Federer is done with Nadal
Symbol, it is next to his greatest rival, also a friend, that the Swiss has decided to come full circle, in a double against the American pair Tiafoe-Sock. The anecdotal result was in favor of the opponents but it doesn’t matter. Emotion conquered the now retired and his teammate of the day, both in tears, holding hands on the bench to overcome this ordeal together. It’s a part of him that’s gone, the Spaniard revealed at the press conference.
“It was never supposed to be like this, I just liked playing tennis and hanging out with my friends. I never thought it would end here, it was a perfect journey,” the forty-year-old confided in the middle of the court after the meeting. Surrounded by the best players on the circuit – Team Europe and Team World -, Roger Federer has been celebrated as a hero, worthy of what he has brought to tennis since the turn of the last century.
