Adjectives associated with art and beauty are often pegged to Roger Federer. Not much, however, is said of the size of the Swiss’ fight, maybe because he has made it appear so easy, erasing deficits with a flick of the wrist. He has taken on opponents with the same skill set with which he has dodged time, dwarfing arenas and romancing the fandom. What fight?
Late on Wednesday -- following the 39-year-old’s 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 reverse to Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, his first straight-set loss at Church Road since 2002 when he fell to Mario Ancic in the first round -- Federer’s voice was raw with emotion. It carried strains of tears he may have already shed or had battled to hold back.
“My goal for the last year was to try to play another Wimbledon,” he said, adding he would have talks with his team in the coming days. “I’m actually very happy I made it as far as I did here and was able to play Wimbledon at the level that I did after everything I went through. I would like to play it again, but at my age, you’re just never sure what's around the corner.”
The 20-time major winner, who was an uncomfortable mix of edgy and tardy on Centre Court only hours earlier, holding just eight of his 13 service games, struck with a stirring swiftness when dealing with questions in the press room.
“The body feels fine,” he said, calling it as it is. “I’m happy I went through all the process of taking losses and trying to play in Paris, Geneva, Doha and Halle, getting myself into match fitness. I definitely need to be a better player if I want to be more competitive at the highest of levels.”
The Swiss may have spoiled himself and his fandom with the 2017 comeback when he hit the ground running following a six-month injury-enforced layoff.
“There’s still a lot of things missing in my game,” he determined. “I have a lot of ideas on the court, but sometimes I can’t do what I want to do.”
The Swiss, who hasn’t yet ruled out playing the Tokyo Olympics, said he understands that his comeback from two knee surgeries is a step-by-step process.
“You need a goal when you're going through rehab,” he said. “You can’t think of the entire mountain to climb at once. You got to go in steps. Wimbledon was the first super step.”
Federer’s fight which manifests in a scowl when on court, resonates in his words at other times. It springs in a forehand or is couched in truth.
“Now that it is over, you reassess everything, what went well, what didn’t go so well, where is the body, where is the knee, where is the mind,” he said, asking questions he didn’t necessarily have the answers for.
“It was a struggle for me putting in extra effort, especially when things got difficult against Felix (Auger-Aliassime) in Halle or against Hurkacz. The goal is to play on.”
