Roger Federer retires (in 2 weeks)

[domalino]

He deserves his own thread, not to be lumped in with the usual Tennis thread.

Roger Federer to retire after Laver Cup in September

Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, will retire from top-level tennis after the Laver Cup in London this month.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[bluemc1]

Federer and Becker are my favourites

 

[mexico1970]

Rolls Royce of a player, wish him lots of happiness on his retirement he deserves it.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Tennis GOAT for me. He may end up with slightly less slams, but his game was beautiful to watch.

Fluid and graceful. A smiling assassin on the court.

 

[RobMCFC]

Tennis GOAT for me. He may end up with slightly less slams, but his game was beautiful to watch.

Fluid and graceful. A smiling assassin on the court.

Equal with Nadal.

 

[WickyWain]

It's not surprising but I'm still genuinely gutted, there will never be another Roger.

 

[DrBlueBob]

Tennis GOAT for me. He may end up with slightly less slams, but his game was beautiful to watch.

Fluid and graceful. A smiling assassin on the court.

Only this.

I remember someone saying he was so cool and calm that you could imagine his training regime consisted of strolling barefoot along the beach wearing a linen suit and a panama hat.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Only this.

I remember someone saying he was so cool and calm that you could imagine his training regime consisted of strolling barefoot along the beach wearing a linen suit and a panama hat.

The time has come for him to be the next Bond.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Coolest of the cool

will be considered one of the greatest ever, and rightfully so

 

[domalino]

Equal with Nadal.

Nadal will probably go down as the greatest eventually.

The thing about the "big 4" era is that it's really 2 different eras. Federer vs. Nadal and then Nadal vs. Djokovic.

Federer is pretty much done before Djokovic really arrives in 2011 when he has the "greatest season in history" and goes from 3rd in the world to number 1 and wins 3 grand slams.

From that point it's just Nadal vs Djokovic with Murray and Wawrinka popping up if they make a mistake until Federer has his last flourish in 2017, which are really his only grand slams in that "big 4" era.


But Federer had a moment in 2003-2006 when he'd seen off the end of the Sampras/Agassi and was just the number 1 guy in the sport by a mile and it made him a global superstar and cultural icon in the way that Nadal and Djokovic never were because they were always sharing the stage.