Roger Federer’s withdrawal from next week’s French Open has ended his outstanding record in the major events.
The 34-year-old has played in a record-breaking 65 consecutive grand slam events, a true reflection of his consistency and dominance in the sport. Federer withdrew from Roland Garros due to an ongoing back injury and said the decision was to avoid an ‘unnecessary fitness risk’. The reaction from current French Open champion Stan Wawrinka summarized the reaction of the entire ATP Tour.
“It makes me sad and it’s scary. It’s bizarre to say that he won’t be in Paris,” Wawrinka said about Federer’s absence.
“It proves that we are never safe from injury.”
The last time Federer didn’t play in the main draw of a grand slam was at the 1999 US Open where the top two men in the world were Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. In fact at the time, Federer was the only one out of the current top-10 ranked inside the top 1000!
To put Federer’s Grand Slam record into perspective, world No.72 Taylor Fritz would have been one month shy of his second birthday the last time the Swiss player failed to qualify for the main draw of a major tournament. The longevity of Federer, who has won 17 grand slam titles, has been praised by numerous figures throughout the sporting world.
The world has certainly changed a lot since Federer’s last absence from a major tournament and Twitter was the first to point this out.
The last time Roger Federer didn’t feature in the MD of a Slam, the line up of Destiny’s Child looked like this: pic.twitter.com/qFFDFDnEMP
— René Denfeld (@Renestance) 19 May 2016
Last time Federer didn’t play a slam there were over a BILLION fewer people in the world & MySpace had just launched pic.twitter.com/QpdpbJBdyG
— BBC Tennis (@bbctennis) 19 May 2016
The #1 songs the last time Roger Federer missed a Grand Slam?
“Genie In A Bottle” by Xtina & “Bailamos” by Enrique.
Pretty awesome.
— Jonathan Newman (@SportScribeCA) 20 May 2016
The last time Roger Federer missed a grand slam, people were worried about the Millennium Bug.
— Henry Mance (@henrymance) 19 May 2016
Where would the current top-10 players be ranked during the 1999 US Open?
1) Novak Djokovic – not ranked due to age (12-years-old)
2) Andy Murray – not ranked due to age (12-years-old)
3) Roger Federer – world No.104 (18-year-old)
$) Stan Wawrinka – not ranked due to age (15-years-old)
5) Rafael Nadal – not ranked due to age (13-years-old)
6) Kei Nishikori – not ranked due to age (9-years-old)
7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – not ranked due to age (15-years-old)
8) Tomas Berdych – not ranked due to age (15-years-old)
9) Milos Raonic – not ranked due to age (8-years-old)
10) Richard Gasquet – not ranked due to age (13-years-old)
What does the future hold for Roger Federer?
This year Federer has been troubled by a knee injury, illness and now a back injury. Presently things don’t look good for the tennis legend, but he is still far from done on the tour. He is still eager to return to the tour and has already talked about next year.
“I am sorry for my fans in Paris, but I very much look forward to returning to Roland Garros in 2017.” Federer said yesterday after confirming his withdrawal.
The time is running out for Federer on the ATP Tour, but that doesn’t mean that he will be any less of an danger. Like most of his glorious career, Federer will do things based on his own terms and continue to be one of the sports most valuable ambassadors.
Federer is certainly down but he is far from out.
