World of sport reacts to Roger Federer’s retirement
Sport | By
The story of Roger Federer’s retirement this week is a tale of two halves.
He finished the 2008 season as the world’s No 1 and he had the best record in the Open Era after that, with 20 major titles and an unprecedented 18 years since the US Open to his name.
His ranking fell, while he won a third Australian Open title and had two finals inside four months in his comeback from injury.
He lost to Novak Djokovic in the US Open final, just the eighth loss of his career (Djokovic is the only player to win all four Grand Slam titles and three majors in the same summer).
His ranking has stayed at No 1 since March of this year – the same month that he said he wanted to retire at the end of the year.
His legacy has been on a rise since the last decade.
He has won a career-high 18 Grand Slam titles, while his ranking is up to 17th in the world (he was ranked No 11 last March). It’s only been a few years since No 1 (and now 11th) has been held by a man with as many as 18 majors, and Federer will finish on a career-high 33 Grand Slams, which tops the list of all male players.
He has won seven times at Roland Garros, nine times at Wimbledon and five times in the US Open, which now has four of his career six major titles.
But Federer’s win and record will be much less celebrated, as he said this week he will not play in the London Olympics or at the US Open in New York City.
“I hope at some point I will be able to play the Olympics and if I was going to play, the US Open, there would be a very simple reason,” he said.
“The only reason I can think of is that I do not like the Olympics. I cannot stand to watch the athletes who are there. Also it’s difficult, it’s too much