World No. 1 Roger Federer has made a huge statement about his retirement after his shock defeat to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the final of the Indian Wells Masters on Sunday.
Federer, who was the defending champion in the event in California, held three match points in the third set, but failed to capitalize on them as Del Potro fought back to claim the title in a tiebreak. And even though the Swiss legend, acknowledged that it was a tough loss, he insisted that he wasn’t looking at retiring from the sport any time soon.
Federer told reporters: “Tough question. I don’t know how much time we have, but, yeah. I mean, look, I think staying positive through the tough moments is really key. Because you’re always going to go through ups and downs in your career, or as a person for that matter.
“Not every day is sun shining. It’s sometimes a bit of a struggle and important that you take the right decisions; you surround yourself with the right people; you know, you’re happy with what you have.
“Of course you can always try to want more and have more and everything, but you might never be happy when you search for things like this.
“You know, I have been content for a long, long time on the tour. I guess ever since I became world No. 1 back in 2004 and won Wimbledon in 2003, my life was complete as a tennis player. Those were my dreams as a little kid.
“So that’s why retirement can wait, and I’m just really enjoying the ride, you know. Yeah, I’m really having a good time on the tour.
“And I think by having had, you know, problems of my own in ’16, I think maybe people saw — it hasn’t always come easy for me, as well, because people like to see the easy part, you know, how I make it look easy. It’s not always like that. For nobody it’s like that at the top.
“Yeah, it’s a good story. When I can inspire and motivate people through my story, that’s obviously a great thing.”
