The Swiss online newspaper published this Wednesday The morning a conversation, in French. in the Day indicator it was published in parallel in German. On the Internet, reporters immediately transmitted the most important statements in English, and it is quite possible that the residents of Alaska, the Cook Islands and the Amazon basin are well informed by now. Roger Federer, it can be assumed, should be relieved. He felt the need to tell the world something.
The genesis of this interview already testified to this. It was he, the 20-time Grand Slam winner, the eight-time Wimbledon champion, the tennis authority and style icon, who called the journalist Mathieu Aeschmann on his own initiative. Most likely he answered with a relaxed “Salut, c’est Rodsch”, as is his way of dealing with people he knows well. With all the respect that is gladly shown to him globally, it often goes under: Federer is very unpretentious. “I have to say again how things are really about me,” he said to Aeschmann. Should it have been his intention to calm down the tennis community, this project did not quite succeed. The interview reads like half goodbye to the audience joker. Like a roadmap for final resignation.
No, he did not utter the one ultimate sentence that his followers fear like a horror vision. Federer did not give a date for quitting. He was not specific about what would have to happen in order for him to end his legendary career. He keep going! Which in his case still has little to do with tennis. The Federer, who is known to the tennis world, has basically not existed for two years. And there won’t be any in the foreseeable future either. “Whether I’ll come back for a smaller round or something bigger? Nobody knows, neither the doctors nor I,” he confessed.
“My world won’t collapse if I never play another Grand Slam final”
Last year, Federer had to undergo two operations in his right knee and this year one more. In addition to the meniscus, a cartilage was also treated. He has started a long rehab process “in which I put all my heart and soul”, he emphasized. He precisely described that he put more strain on his right knee than right-handers in his game. That the last medical measure was necessary because it was about fundamental issues, far beyond his career: “I should have performed this operation in any case to ensure my long-term well-being.” He had already stated several times that he did not want to quit as an invalid. He also wants to experience a lot with his four children, skiing and hiking. He also dreamed of playing ice hockey.
Even if he were to draw a line today – none of this would work. He is simply still not fit. “Doctors say I will be able to jog easily again in January and gradually get back to the court.” In March he wants to start “tennis-like training, with lunges and more complex movements”. His return is roughly announced for “summer 2022”, “I’ll see much more clearly in spring”.
Of course, all of this means: no Australian Open with Federer in January. He’s missing in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells. In Paris, at the French Open. There is even more serious threat: “The truth is that I would be incredibly surprised if I were to play at Wimbledon again,” said Federer at the beginning of the interview. He started with the worst right away. The lawn classic at the All England Club starts on July 27th. Federer, the impression is obvious, also wants to gain time with the interview.
Was that his last greeting at Wimbledon? In July Roger Federer reached the quarter-finals in the All England Club and then clearly failed against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz.
(Photo: Alberto Pezzali / AP)
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Time that is slowly draining away from him. Last July he had tormented himself again after Wimbledon, he is entering a few tournaments this season, practically patched up in a makeshift manner. In retrospect, he admitted that he started in England with complaints, which you could see in his otherwise easy game. The grace was partly gone, the quarter-final clap against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz – with 0: 6 in the third set – the logical, painful consequence. But Federer had just tried everything, you have to give him credit, in order to compete in the most important tournament for him. Wimbledon has always been the compass of his career. All the more, his confessions now resemble a turning point. It is no longer about titles or victories. “My world won’t collapse if I never play another Grand Slam final,” he admitted.
From now on he really cares – and he has never said it this way – about the final act: How and when does he close the curtain? When asked whether parting on the court was now the main focus for him, he answered without further ado: “Yes, and if you take it seriously, it doesn’t make much difference whether I return in 2022 or not until 2023, at the age of 40 or 41 . It does not matter.” His main goal is to “play a few big games again” and see “what I can do as a professional tennis player”. But the longer he spoke, the more Federer sounded as if he were encouraging himself and wanted to assure himself that he still had “the heart” for all the pending torments, as he put it at one point. How does he assess the chances that old Federer will exist again, the one who floats filigree over the squares and enchants people? “Sports history sometimes writes such miracles. I’m realistic: It would be a great miracle.”
He can’t do anything without a miracle. That is how serious the situation is.
Of course, it is Federer’s sole right to decide when he will disengage himself from the tennis cosmos as an active player. So far, he has always let opinions ricochet off that he has missed the ideal time to resign. Now, however, he also explicitly comments on why the moment is still not right: “It would be okay for me to say: ‘It’s okay, I have given a lot and received a lot. Let’s stop.’ But investing everything in order to come back is also my way of saying thank you to my fans. They deserve better than the image my last grass season left. ” Federer’s followers should slowly have their handkerchiefs ready. The last pause gong has sounded.
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