Farewell to elegance, Roger Federer retires: "I must admit that it is time to end my career"
Roger Federer
says
that in his last match, last year at Wimbledon against the Pole
Hubert Hurkacz
, something broke inside him and he understood that tennis was over for him.
"In the last set nothing worked for me, I had nothing to do anymore."
Despite this, he tried.
He underwent surgery to treat his right knee -officially only once, although supposedly more-, he gave a year to rehabilitation and planned to return to retire with victories, with a title, with joy, but it was impossible.
"The knee did not evolve and this summer, after Wimbledon, I made the decision to leave it. I was sad and, in fact, I only communicated it to my closest people", accepted the winner of 20 Grand Slam in London, where this Friday will play its last game in the Laver Cup (10 pm, Eurosport), the tournament that pits Europe against the rest of the world.
It will be a doubles match and there will be no more.
After the announcement of his withdrawal there was speculation that he would also contest the singles on Saturday and Sunday, but Federer ruled that out.
"It's clear that I can't play the singles. I asked Bjorn Borg [European captain] if he thought it was okay and he told me that just seeing me again on a track is already a dream," said the Swiss, who recalled that the decision on who his partner will be is Borg's responsibility, although no one doubts that Rafa Nadal will accompany him.
"The most beautiful thing would be to play doubles with him because he has been the great rival of my career," admitted Federer.
This Tuesday, whoever dominated world tennis from 2004 to 2010 was able to make his debut at the O2 Arena in training with Stefanos Tsitsipas and was surprised at his own level.
"I'm happy, I hope to be able to play the match in an acceptable way," he declared at a press conference in which he left many details about his retirement and spoke at length about his career.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
Know more