Roger Federer before Wimbledon: "It was almost like when I was a junior"

It was the first Monday in July 2001, shortly after half past two.

Pete Sampras, then almost 30 years old, and Roger Federer, ten years his junior, were waiting at the door to Center Court for the signal to appear together in the fourth round.

Sampras had won seven Wimbledon titles and lost only one game in the previous eight years;

it was the benchmark in men's tennis, not just in this place, but above all there.

The Swiss youngster, with a wide white headband and hair tied tightly at the back of the head, was one of the greatest talents in the world and had won the first games at the championships in the days before. The situation seemed clear; this could be an interesting afternoon, maybe the challenger would win a set or even two. Of course, Federer had more on his mind. Ever since it was established that he was going to play against Sampras, Pistol Pete, he had heard from friends, colleagues, his own and other coaches: Boy, you have a chance.

So there he was standing at the door of his first game on the world's most famous tennis court, and the master of ceremonies from the All England Club asked, “You know what to do out there?” He knew - back then the players were still stopped to turn around at the level of the service line and bow in the direction of the Royal Box - but Sampras was leading the way anyway, and he could use that as a guide.

Federer without a cinematic end

When he left Center Court four hours later after a five-set victory flooded with happiness, a great era came to an end. And an even bigger one indicated itself. Two years later, Roger Federer won the first of his eight titles, he played another four times in the final, and when he appears on the Wimbledon lawn for the 115th appearance on Tuesday (around 3:45 p.m. on Sky), his balance will be 101: 13. Pete Sampras said goodbye after 70 games, the last one almost breaking your heart in 2002; on Court No. 2, the so-called cemetery of champions, he lost like a shadow of himself against a lucky loser from world number 145, the Swiss George Bastl.

But the gods of tennis had a happy ending in mind for one of the best; two months later they led Pete Sampras to the US Open title, the very last game of his career. A dream, right? As he gets older, Federer is asked again and again whether it would not be the best and most beautiful of all possibilities to leave the stage with such a bang, but he obviously has no problem with imagining things differently. His career has been so fantastic, so unimaginably good, he likes to answer, because he doesn't need a film-like ending.

22 years have passed since his first game with the pros at Wimbledon, 20 since beating Sampras, 18 since his first title and four since the last one, and the big question is: will he have another chance? The last attempt was just a tiny bit missing; He awarded two match points in the 2019 final against Novak Djokovic, the longest final in the history of the tournament.

What the tennis world saw of him last was a bit confusing. In his recent defeat in Halle against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, he sometimes looked rude, not at peace with himself, and he still doesn't know exactly what was going on that day. The defeat wasn't the problem, he said a few days ago, but the way he behaved was. “It was almost like when you were junior, when you just can't see anything positive anymore. But something like that will certainly not happen here. And I know when I get started and reach week two - which is the goal at the moment - that I can get stronger from game to game. "

What happens in the two weeks of the 134th Championships will at least have an impact on further planning for this year, maybe even beyond. Federer says he would of course like to attend the Tokyo Olympics - it would be his fifth - and play as many tournaments as possible after that. But he had discussed with his team to first wait for Wimbledon and then make a decision on how to proceed.

What is certain is that he will be 40 years old on August 8, exactly four weeks after the final of the Championships. Often enough he is amazed that none of his passion, his love for this game, has disappeared. But he's not the only one who is amazed. Roger Federer remembers a conversation with Sampras in which the American asked how much longer he wanted to play. "He thought I was approaching the end." Ten years have passed since the question.