The superstar of tennisSwiss Roger Federer announced Thursday that he will end his career as a professional player next week. His last appearance will occur on the 2022 ATP Tour during the Laver Cup, in London.
“Tennis has treated me more generously than I could have ever dreamed of and now I must recognize when it is time to end my career,” the 41-year-old tennis player said in a video statement posted on his Twitter account.
To my tennis family and beyond,
With Love,
Roger pic.twitter.com/1UISwK1NIN— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) September 15, 2022
The iconic tennis player has played more than 1,500 games in his 24-year career, but in the last three they have been marked by injuries and visits to the operating room. In his message, he assured that he worked hard to return to full competitive form, but knows the capabilities and limits of his body.
His last regular tournaments were in early 2020, before discomfort forced him to stop. He did not return until the 2021 clay tour, and after a couple of minor tournaments and playing at Roland Garros and Wimbledon he has not been seen holding the racket again.
In the three-minute video, he also expressed his gratitude to all those who supported and loved his game. “I want to thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, everyone around the world, who has helped make the dreams of a young Swiss ball boy come true,” he emphasized.
Referring to tennis, the sport that he loved passionately from an early age, he stressed that it will continue to be a part of his life. “I love you, I will never leave you,” he assured excitedly in another art of the statement.
Federer was born in the Swiss city of Basel in 1981 and throughout his successful career he was praised for his consistency and skills. Thanks to his talent, he holds the record for consecutive weeks in first place (237) and remained for more than 18 years in the top ten of the Association of Professional Tennis Players.
He also appears in the books as the oldest occupant of the top of the ATP ranking, having remained on the throne even at 36 years old.
He is the player who has played the most Grand Slam He has won (369) and the one who has starred in the most finals of these tournaments (31) in the history of tennis, winning 20 times. In addition, he was always admired for the way he played, with an elegant and effortless style.
In recent years, Federer has engaged in more activities off the court, one of which has been his role as an investor in the Swiss sportswear company Onwhich went public in September 2021. He also became an ambassador for Tourism Switzerland in a bid to help his country’s tourism sector affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last August the magazine Forbes included him in the list of highest-paid tennis players in the world for the seventeenth year, despite not having played a match for nearly 14 months.
Given his hegemony during times of greatest splendor, there are many who consider that Federer has a reserved place in the pantheon of the greatest tennis players, along with Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and other players who, in one way or another, have been leaving their mark on the sport on a global scale.
The farewell fixed by Federer will be a historic appointment. In addition to the official goodbye, it will be the first time that the Big Three He will compete in the same team, as he will have the support of Serbian Novac Djokovic and Spaniard Nadal, considered by many specialists as the only ones who could question whether or not the Swiss was the best player in 150 years of tennis history.
Efe/OnCuba.
