The ceremony announced by Wimbledon to honor the record holder of the number of titles in the men’s singles (8) was of a very British sobriety. A video montage mixing cuts, tears and tributes from a few players, a brief presentation of the speaker and the Basel appeared in a beige suit, not on the court but in the royal box. His wife Mirka, his parents Robert and Lynette, his agent Tony Godsick and his wife, former player Mary Joe Fernandez, were waiting for him. But only Roger Federer wore the purple badge of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club members.
Among his peers
Stepping down to the front row, Federer just smiled, waved and thanked as the audience rose to give him a nearly two-minute standing ovation. The moment was both very simple and very beautiful, stripped of unnecessary ornaments but rich in symbolism. To applause, Roger Federer entered this very closed circle of tennis history to which players never fully belong as long as their career lasts.
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In the video shown on the stadium boards, a young Federer imagined himself, aged, returning to Wimbledon only to have a cup of tea. He is now this member dubbed by his peers, this legend of the game that new tennis stars will greet with respect but that ever fewer will have known as a player. He will be a distant day, this old man whom only books and a few elders will remember, saying to the youngest: “Ah Federer, if you had seen him play. He was a great champion.”
2023-07-04 15:23:17
#day #Roger #Federer #place #Royal #Box #Wimbledon
