Roger Federer has been the icon of Swiss sport for more than 20 years, succeeding in his feat of transcending tennis to become a world star. The former world number 1 retired in 2022 due to a serious knee injury, which did not allow him to play as much as he would have wished for in the final years of his legendary career.
The former Swiss champion greeted the crowd at the 2022 Laver Cup, which took place in a magical setting at the O2 Arena in London. The 20-time Grand Slam champion played his last match alongside his former rival and friend Rafael Nadal, who did everything he could to be present at the celebration of King Roger.
The Swiss Maestro recently recounted his last days in a documentary released on Amazon Prime, in which he revealed all of his feelings and thoughts about retirement. Federer accepted the retirement with serenity, knowing that he could not be more competitive at the top level due to injuries. The King’s troubles began after the 2020 Australian Open, in which he reached the semi-finals losing to Novak Djokovic. Roger had several knee surgeries to try and get back on the tour, but after several attempts he had to accept the reality. Despite losing most of his records, Federer is still the idol of many young tennis players and a source of inspiration for others in other sports.
The Swiss tennis is struggling
After the retirement of Roger Federer in 2022 and the physiological decline of Stan Wawrinka, Swiss tennis has struggled to bring new talents. At the moment, there are no Swiss players in the Top 100 of the ATP ranking. There are four Swiss players in the Top 200, while the Swiss number 1 is Leandro Riedi who currently occupies the 129th position of the ATP ranking.
In a recent interview, Heinz Gunthardt opened up on the current state of Swiss tennis: ”Patience is needed for both men and women. I am also confident that Bencic will return to his former form after his planned return. And we must realize that the image we have of Swiss tennis is distorted. Federer and company made us believe that it was easy to reach the Top 100. It’s not even close!”
Federer and Wawrinka have long masked the difficulties of Swiss tennis. The two Swiss champions achieved outstanding results, which have kept their country’s name high up in the world. King Roger won 20 Grand Slam titles and was number 1 in the world, while ‘Stanimal’ won 3 Majors and the gold medal in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics right along with Federer. Roger and Stan also led Switzerland to the 2014 Davis Cup triumph.
The Big 3 made history
Federer made tennis history with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, with whom he created one of the most beautiful rivalries in modern sport history. In a long interview with ‘The Athletic’, Austrian ace Dominic Thiem commented on the impact of the Big 3: “I was competing with the three greatest of all time. That was intense. But also, all the years before I always had a big load and intensity in my practice. That’s something the doctor and many other people said: that at one point the wrist broke because of all the shots I did, all the hard practice I did all those years before.
I was always striving to get better and get even closer to the best players in the world. I consider myself lucky to be in that timeline with the Big Three and all the other great players. I came up into the top 100 way later than most. They came up when they were, like, 18, whereas I was 20 and a half. I didn’t think it would be possible that I’d be a Grand Slam champion and No 3 in the world. I already felt before the match (the 2020 US Open final against Zverev) that something was not right. I wasn’t getting into the zone or the flow. And that’s how the first two sets went — they were way too tense, too nervous. Sascha Zverev was playing really well.
The pressure was so high. I was thinking back to my previous finals. Maybe it’s less pressure to face the greatest players of all time. Because the US Open, I had to win [in those circumstances], and that was really tough. Every Grand Slam final felt like it could be the last one, because the journey is really tough. You have to beat great players, you have to stay healthy. Many, many little things have to come together. When I played Sascha, it was like now or never.” The Big 3 have prevented many great players from winning as they should.