The tennis fraternity reacted on Roger Federer’s retirement from professional tennis.
The professional career of Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer came to an end with a defeat alongside long-time rival and friend, Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup in London.Federer and Nadal went down to Team World’s Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 11-9 at the O2 arena. After the match, Federer got emotional as he recalled some of the biggest highlights of his career. Upon seeing Federer, Nadal also could not hold back his tears and he was also quite emotional.
A tearful Roger Federer waved goodbye to professional tennis after teaming up with fellow great Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup. The 41-year-old received a long ovation after walking off court for the final time as he retired as a professional.
The Swiss, who won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, is considered one of the best players in tennis history. He said, it has been a wonderful day, he is happy, not sad. He said, it feels great to be here.
The Swiss legend held World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for 310 weeks, second-most since 1973 behind only Novak Djokovic. However, Federer held top spot for a record 237 consecutive weeks from 2 February 2004 until 18 August 2008.
At Roland Garros in 2009, Federer completed the Career Grand Slam and at Wimbledon one month later, he broke Pete Sampras’ all-time men’s singles record by lifting his 15th major trophy. He went on to claim 20 Grand Slam trophies, which now only trails Rafael Nadal (22) and Djokovic (21). The Swiss earned six Australian Open triumphs, the 2009 Roland Garros title, eight Wimbledon trophies and five consecutive US Open victories (2004-08).
Federer earned 1,251 tour-level wins during his illustrious career, the second-most victories on record behind only Jimmy Connors’ 1,274. The Swiss also claimed 103 tour-level trophies, only trailing Connors’ 109.
The Basel native claimed a record six titles, 59 wins and 18 qualifications at the Nitto ATP Finals. He also excelled at the ATP Masters 1000 events, where he won 28 titles.
Federer is also the winner of a record 40 ATP Tour Awards: ATP Tour No. 1 (2004-07, 2009), Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of Year (2006, 2013), Comeback Player of the Year (2017), Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship (2004-09, 2011-17) and Fans’ Favourite (2003-21). He is also the most-decorated athlete in the history of the Laureus World Sports Awards, winning Sportsman of the Year five times (2005-08, 2018) and Comeback of the Year in 2018.
The Swiss climbed to the top of the sport for the first time aged 22, reaching World No. 1 on 2 February 2004. From there, he enjoyed a peerless reign. From 2004-06, he tallied an astonishing 247-15 record, a winning percentage of more than 94 per cent.
During that stretch, he lifted 34 tour-level trophies. From 2003-05, Federer won 24 straight matches against Top 10 opponents.
Nadal and Djokovic then joined Federer at the top of the sport, creating the ‘Big Three’, an unprecedented era in tennis.
In recent years, Federer showed great resilience and determination. After undergoing knee surgery in 2016, he returned in 2017 to play some of the best tennis of his career. As the 17th seed at the 2017 Australian Open, he won his 18th Grand Slam title and his first since Wimbledon in 2012. Later that year, he also triumphed at The Championships for the record eighth time. In 2018, he claimed his final major title in Melbourne.
Federer became the oldest World No. 1 in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 19 February 2018 at age 36. The Swiss never retired from a match.
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