Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
As Roger Federer, one of the greatest of his times is set to retire, India Tracker examines the legend’s career.
Tennis luminary Roger Federer recently announced his retirement from the sport amid a knee injury from which he has been suffering for a long time. He is set to retire next week after the Laver Cup 2022 in London. Federer's last few years have been tainted by a series of injuries, including two knee surgeries in 2020 and another after losing to Hubert Hurkacz in the 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinal which was his last competitive match to date.
As Roger Federer, one of the greatest of his times is set to retire, India Tracker examines the legend’s career.
The tennis legend took to twitter on 15th September to announce his retirement in the sport. He began his tweet with the words,” To my tennis family and beyond, of all the gifts that tennis has given me over the years, the greatest, without a doubt, has been the people I have met along the way; my friends, my competitors and most of all the fans who give the sport its life.” He further wrote that he had played more than 1500 matches in his 24 year long career and the sport has always treated him generously than his expectations. He marked that the past three years have presented him with challenges in the form of injuries and surgeries and he had tried his best to bounce back to full competitive form, but he also mentioned that his body has not been supportive to him lately. He said that it is a bittersweet decision for him to retire from Tennis but he will always continue to play it. He thanked different people through his tweet- his wife, sister, children, parents, rivals, manager, sponsors and ultimately fans.
Roger has competed against all of the stalwarts of his generation and those before him, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Despite playing alongside some of the greatest players of all time, Federer has set numerous records, including becoming the world's oldest No. 1 at the age of 36. Federer became world No. 1 in 2004 and continued to stay there until 2008, a period in which he dominated like no other in the Open Era.
Source: www.olympics.com
Roger Federer is the first male tennis player in history to win 20 Grand Slam titles. He reached the landmark after defeating Croatia's Marin Cilic in the 2018 Australian Open final. No player in tennis history has won more Grand Slam matches than Roger Federer. His most recent Grand Slam victory came in the Wimbledon 2021 pre-quarterfinals against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego. He holds the record of winning 8 Wimbledon Grand Slam titles, 6 Australia Grand Slam titles, 5 US Grand Slam titles and 1 French Grand Slam title. He was won the highest number of matches (369) in Grand Slams. He has also won two Olympic medals. He won a gold medal in men's doubles with Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver medal in men's singles at the 2012 London Olympics.
He holds the record of being named as the ATP Player of the Year and ITF World Champion five times. Roger has been awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award for five times, including four consecutive awards from 2005 to 2008 and the list of the legend’s achievements go on.
Source: Media Reports
Rafael Nadal holds the record of maximum grand slam titles followed by Novak Djokovic. Federer is third in the list with 20 grand slams. The Swiss great holds eight Wimbledon titles, the most by any male tennis player. He is followed by Djokovic with 7 wins and Nadal with 2 wins. Although, Nadal has maximum French Open titles to his name with 14 wins. Federer also holds the record of winning maximum number of US open titles. Talking about career titles, Federer has 103 to his name followed by Nadal (89) and Djokovic (88).
Federer will play his last match next week. While we may not be able to see Federer on the court after that, his records and achievements is a source of inspiration to hundreds of young tennis aspirants.
