The inexorably approaching end of a great era was felt by all, yet the world copes with the confirmed end of Roger Federer’s career with a strangely painful nostalgia. The 41-year-old Swiss, with his exceptional talent, demeanor, charisma and achievements, has ranked among the most outstanding athletes in history. And he changed tennis as such.
“We knew what was going to happen, but I’m very sad about it,” said Mats Wilander on Eurosport.
Federer has not been helped by two surgeries on his sore knee, and when news began to surface in recent weeks that the Swiss’s aging joint was reporting problems again, the inevitability of fate spoke.
The legend has lost a futile battle against time. With his typical grace, respect, gratitude and poised acceptance of the path he will embark on in his post-sporting life, Federer announced the end of his career.
Tears of regret will most likely come next weekend, when Federer finally says goodbye in London during “his” Laver Cup. Perhaps even with a racket in hand, if health permits.
Meanwhile, tennis personalities are pouring out admiring comments about the twenty-time Grand Slam champion. A man who has been surpassed in the historical tables by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, but who will forever remain apparently the most loved and admired.
“You were an inspiration to millions of people including me and we will never forget that. You finished the way you always played. Perfect. Thanks for being who you were. And welcome to the retirement club,” she texted the 41-year-old Swiss just a month later and half the age of Serena Williams.
Two ultimate icons of world tennis said their goodbyes shortly after each other.
According to Wilander, Federer is “not only” the best tennis player of all time, but also one of the greatest figures in sports history across disciplines. He raised tennis to a whole new level and attracted a huge number of fans to him.
“It’s not talked about much, but nothing like this had happened before with Björn Borg, Pete Sampras or Rod Laver. His athleticism was so smooth that he matched Michael Jordan in basketball, Pelé in football or Nadia Comanecio in gymnastics,” said the Swedish expert .
Federer brought elegance, revolutionary footwork, genius thinking and touch to tennis. Everything about his presentation looked like the easiest thing in the world, with the absence of a large amount of sweat on his face only confirming this appearance.
“He will always be the most important ambassador for our sport. The most popular. The one who brought our sport into living rooms where people who had never seen tennis before enjoyed it,” explained Wilander.
“I would like to hear the opera singer Luciano Pavarotti sing Bob Dylan’s songs someday. That would be perfection in music for me. The equivalent of something like that in sports for me is and always will be Roger Federer,” added the former world number one.
In the meantime, renowned coach Patrick Mouratoglou described the game specifics and exceptionalities of the Swiss champion at length.
“Everything he did was absolutely perfect. The way he moved, his strokes. He gave you the feeling that he was doing everything with absolutely zero effort. Everything looked fluid, so easy,” the Nice academy owner and longtime coach told Tennis Majors Serena.
In his opinion, Federer was the biggest fighter and hard worker, although it didn’t look like that on the court at first glance: “He had that gift. He made tennis an art.”
When the native of Basel passed the first round at Wimbledon for the first time twenty-one years ago and in the round of 16 thrilled with a five-set win over the biggest favorite Pete Sampras, he played the serve-volley style. But he very quickly developed into a complex player who could do practically anything at a top level.
“They slowed down the surface, but he had a lot of other options up his sleeve. He worked on becoming a baseline player. He played the ball very soon after impact, he had an incredible forehand and an incredible slice backhand,” Mouratoglou listed.
He specifically stopped at Federer’s movement. “He developed probably the best movement towards the court and back again. He saw everything quickly, analyzed it, jumped forward and finished in a flash. That’s what he was best at.”
The Swiss also deserves admiration for how he adapted to different generations of players. How he adapted to the fact that he himself is getting older. When he found that he might not be enough in long exchanges, he simply switched immediately to a frontal attack.
“Roger is the best ambassador for tennis because he played it the way everyone wanted to play it. No one has played tennis like Roger before and no one will ever play it again. It’s impossible, just too perfect to imitate,” Mouratoglou concluded.
Check out a roundup of Roger Federer’s memorable strokes:
Federer best skills | Video: www.youtube.com
