Roger Federer ‘doesn’t want’ Wimbledon ghost haunting retirement as plans discussed

Roger Federer to miss US Open and undergo knee surgery

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Former world No 1 Andy Roddick has revealed that Roger Federer intends on retiring from tennis on his own terms and is refusing to bow out with his last match being a Wimbledon defeat. The 41-year-old was last seen losing in straight sets in the 2021 quarter-finals of the competition to Hubert Hurcakz.

Federer is still recovering from his third round of knee surgery which rules him out of the upcoming US Open, though he is expected to return to the court in the coming months. After the ATP ruled the Swiss star as ‘inactive’ many had the gut feeling that he may opt to retire rather than work towards a return.

But Roddick has revealed that that will never have been an option in Federer’s mind as he knows that the 20-time Grand Slam winner ‘doesn’t want’ to end his career on a crushing defeat at Wimbledon. Asked about when Federer may retire on The Rich Eisen Show, Roddick said: “I don’t think we’re going to see Roger come back and be able to compete for three out of five sets, over the course of seven matches as it takes to win a Grand Slam.

“I do hope that he gets to go out on his own terms. He’s currently scheduled to play in two events before the end of this calendar year at Laver Cup at the O2 and then in Basel, which is his home turf, and the stadium is currently named after him there.

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“I think we’ll have a better sense after seeing him at those tournaments where it’s not going to have a huge physical pull on the body – indoors, two out of three sets, not having to deal with conditions. I’m not super optimistic looking forward to next year, time is undefeated so I don’t automatically think he’s going to be better when he comes back because he wasn’t the favourite at Slams when he wasn’t hurt.

“But I also know Roger and he doesn’t want his last competitive set to be a 6-0 loss at Wimbledon so I’m happy that he’s scheduled his rehab, the long process, to have the opportunity to go out on his own terms. He certainly deserves no less than that.”

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It has been reported that the Laver Cup is the targeted reappearance date for Federer, a competition that he helped design. And many are excited about the competition at the end of September, not only because of Federer’s return to the court but because the ‘Big Four’ will unite forces once more.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Federer are all signed up to form ‘Team Europe’ at the competition in London, which will be the first time that they have all played for the same team. The competition may be the ideal way for Federer to ease back into competitive tennis ahead of his homecoming in Basel.

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