20 time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer continues to play the game of tennis at the highest level as he seeks to add to his Grand Slam tally and built his legacy. At 38 years of age, Federer continues to dominate the headlines and is always a threat to take hope the title be it an ATP event or a Grand Slam tournament. Federer was recently in action at the US Open where he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Time is catching up with Federer
Some in the game have begun to express concern that despite Federer’s great career achievements, his age is now the biggest challenge between him and winning another Grand Slam title. Federer’s last Grand Slam victory was at the Australian Open in 2018. He reached this year’s Wimbledon final but fell to Novak Djokovic in five sets in a thrilling final. Now after his recent quarterfinal loss in the US Open, former British tennis player and pundit Greg Rusedski feels that Federer’s age may be having an effect on his performances. Rusedski said the following when asked about Federer’s game. “He can [win five-set matches] but can he do it back-to-back? If you look at Djokovic and Rafa, they are going from strength to strength. When you give away five years to somebody, that is a lot of time. At 38 years of age Federer still plays the best tennis I have ever seen anybody play at that age. I would love to see a magical story but time is catching up with him.”
May not win another major title
Asked if Federer would win another Grand Slam, Rusedski claimed that Federer faced an uphill task to win another major title given that his rivals Djokovic and Nadal are returning to top form and are younger than Federer. Rusedski said, “I don’t think [he will win another Major title]. At the start of the tournament, we had the question of who was going to win the most. I said Federer would win 20. Will he get to the finals? Yes, but he has never beaten Nadal and Djokovic back-to-back. Nadal has got to be the favorite to get number 19, then he is going to get 20 at the French so he can get ahead of Federer. Djokovic has to get healthy. That Wimbledon final having two match points has got to hurt. At 38 he is still playing brilliant tennis but the body just doesn’t recover like it used to.”
Oldest Grand Slam Champion
If Federer were to win another Grand Slam, he would be the oldest player ever to achieve that feat. The oldest Grand Slam champion is Ken Rosewall who won the 1972 Australian Open at 37 years of age. Federer has been to 31 Grand Slam finals and holds a 20-11 record in those finals.
Roger Federer’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.3, Roger played his last match on the 3rd of September when he lost to Grigor Dimitrov 3-6 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2 in the quarter in U.S. Open.
This year the Swiss has a 43-7 win-loss record. The Swiss conquered 3 titles in 2019 in Dubai, in Miami and in Halle. Roger was the finalist in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.
Roger Federer |
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