2022 will also be remembered as the year of Roger Federer’s retirement. The Swiss hung up the racket at the age of 41, once he realized that it would be impossible to play at the highest level again. The 41-year-old Basel player has undergone three knee operations in the last two and a half years, but he couldn’t solve the problem and had to accept reality.
The King had tried a timid comeback last year, playing only 13 official matches and stopping again after Wimbledon. Through a letter posted on Instagram on September 15, Master announced his decision to retire to the world.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion played his last match on September 23 at the Laver Cup, the exhibition he founded in 2017. Roger has joined forces with longtime rival Rafael Nadal, who was in tears during the subsequent ceremony.
During a recent interview, Kei Nishikori confided that he has always admired Federer a lot.
Nishikori pays tribute to Federer
«I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere and also by my admiration for him. After that, I started considering Roger Federer as an opponent to beat, even though he is my idol,» said Nishikori.
«His games are fun, great, full of incredible shots, just perfect. That’s something we all admire,» he added. «Roger is pretty much the same on and off the court, very cool on the court, funny and great off the court too, I don’t have any (embarrassing/funny) episodes of him…
I had a training block with him when I was 16 or 17, it was a great experience for me, I’m grateful for that,» said the Japanese. Dmitry Tursunov recently gave his opinion on the best of all time: «Honestly, I see these debates and I see people foaming at the mouth discussing these things, and everyone brings up their own arguments.
I’ve never really had that great desire to try to figure out who’s the greatest of all time and I don’t really pay attention to that,» Tursunov said. «Obviously, Roger [Federer] he was the first boy who had this great domination.
Sampras also had this great tennis command but I think Roger just took it to another level and then Rafa [Nadal] He caught up with him and followed him and overcame him and then there’s Novak [Djokovic], who has surpassed Roger and is one behind Rafa. Who knows, maybe someone else will get even bigger than the four of them,» he continued.
