Roger Federer retires as tennis’s greatest champion ahead of final goodbye
Those lucky enough to witness his final farewell will rather take in the sweetness of his groundstrokes and the motion of a serve that delivered both class and efficiency. That Federer reached those levels after a start to his career that was initially erratic, often hot-headed, remains one of his greatest accomplishments. Federer retires at peace with his journey, at ease with his decision and without regret.
There will still be nerves. Federer has not played in over a year and set his expectations at being “somewhat competitive” ahead of his return to court. There will not be any talk of records that there may have been if Federer had taken to a grand slam arena for a final time. With Nadal on 22 titles and Djokovic on 21, his total has been passed but a fact that has been made clearer following Federer’s retirement is that his legacy will not be measured in tallies or numbers. “You don’t need all the records to be happy; I tell you that,” he said.
Billie Jean King called Federer the “champion’s champion” following his retirement, and the greatest of all time will be where he sits. At Wimbledon this summer, as the All England Club celebrated 100 years of Centre Court, the noise from the crowd rippled and rose like waves at the emergence of each former winner during their presentation. King, Bjorn Bjorg, Andy Murray, Venus Williams, Nadal and Novak Djokovic all received standing ovations but Federer’s reception blew them away. When he comes out to play his final match along the road at the O2 Arena, it will do so again.
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