Roger Federer got rid of a serious problem by the misfortune of his rival, the French Adrian Mannarino, who went ahead two sets to one but had to retire later injured due to a fall. One of those typical and treacherous slips on grass. Many times anecdotal, but sometimes fatal for the body of the tennis player involved.
This was the case of the 33-year-old French left-handed veteran and 41st ATP. He had lost his six previous duels with Roger Federer, 39 years old and 8th ATP, he had only scratched one of 16 sets. However, he was exploiting the pressure that the Swiss felt on his favorite terrain by leading in the score 2 sets to 1.
In the seventh game of the fourth set, with the Basel man serving with 4-2, 15-15Struggling to reach fifth, the Frenchman’s left foot slipped excessively. He lay on the Mannarino lawn, then treated medically. Lame, fearing a major physical problem in his right knee, he endured a game and a half before heading back to the locker room.
Federer, at times crestfallen, anxious, avoided a compromising situation under the roof of the Wimbledon headquarters, as the rain was also the protagonist one more day. Triumph by 6-4, 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-2, 15-0 and retired, in 2h. 42 ‘. In second round, another French dangers, Richard Gasquet, who beat the Japanese Yuichi Sugita 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2 and 6-1.
In his fifth tournament of the course, after the double operation on his right knee that aborted his last season since the Australian Open, Federer showed the logical doubts of lack of competition, also on grass, since in the ATP of Halle he did not exceed the second match, yielding to the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Eight times champion, more than 700 days later he returned to play at Wimbledon, which he had left on July 14, 2019, losing the final with Novak Djokovic, in which he had two match points. His situation has been radically changed by the physical problem of the knee. He was rallying against Mannarino, but there were a lot of unknowns from his ups and downs. Federer will have another opportunity to continue growing in his garden, gain calm and gain momentum.
