Roger Federer made millions of fans fall in love with his innate class and longevity. The former world number 1 helped boost the popularity of tennis alongside his eternal rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The last two seasons have given the King very few joys on the tennis court, especially thanks to a serious injury to his right knee.
Suffice it to say that the 40-year-old Swiss played just 13 official matches in 2021, collecting nine wins and four losses. The round of 16 at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon were his best seasonal results, a very modest tally for a legend of his caliber.
A few weeks after the Championships, the Basel legend announced that he will have to operate for the third time in 18 months. If there are no further hiccups, the 20-time Grand Slam champion will return to the Laver Cup, which will take place at London’s O2 Arena in late September.
Through his Twitter profile, former ATP number 4 James Blake expressed all his admiration for the Maestro.
Blake opens up on Federer
“I’m still shocked by some of the things Roger Federer did,” James Blake wrote.
Former Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Hewitt spoke about his matches against the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. “I feel fortunate that I was able to play across different generations.
I was able to be on the same court as my heroes that I looked up to, like Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, and then go on and compete against three of the greatest tennis players our sport has ever seen in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic,” Lleyton Hewitt said.
“The Hall of Fame seemed like something that was so far away from me ever being part of. It was never something I ever thought about as a player, and it was always, I thought, for the people that were my idols growing up and the absolute legends of the sport,” Hewitt said.
Federer will make a comeback in the Swiss Open after opting out of all the Grand Slams. Djokovic is still getting thrown out of the tournaments because of his vaccination status. The Serb has missed the Australian Open and will soon miss the US Open if situations stand unchanged. Nadal enrolled for the ATP 1000 event in Canada and was spotted practicing in the hard court of Mallorca.
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