20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has reignited speculation that he may be retiring from tennis in the near future following a comment he made at the Swiss Sports Awards on Sunday.
Federer, who turned 39 earlier this year, attended the annual award ceremony where he received a special honour of being named the greatest athlete in his home country of the past 70 years. During the voting process, the world No.5 received 49.1% of votes compared to 12.2% for four-time Olympic gold medallist Dario Cologna and 12% for skier Pirmin Zurbriggen. Although the honour wasn’t the talking point of the evening for Federer fans, it was what he said afterwards.
“I hope there is still something to see from me next year,” he said. “But if that was it, that would have been an incredible ending for me at these Sports Awards.”
The unexpected comment comes as Federer continues his recovery from two knee surgeries that he underwent earlier this year. He has been hit with various retirement questions throughout recent time but never gave a direct end date. Even his agent Tony Godsick has repeatedly said that he doesn’t know when the former world No.1 will walk away from the sport.
It is unclear as to how much should be read into Federer’s latest words. At the same event on Sunday, he admitted he faces a race against time to be fit for the Australian Open in February. Instead, stating that he is in no hurry to rush his return to professional tennis.
“I’m still giving myself time to decide,” Federer explained. ” I also know that the next three months are going to be crucial for me.”
One certainty is that Federer is highly unlikely to retire immediately as he sets out some of his goals for the new season. His aim is to return to full fitness during the summer.
“(The) biggest focus lies on summer, with Wimbledon, US Open, maybe Roland Garros,“ he said.
Federer hasn’t played a competitive match on the ATP Tour since his loss to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January. It is the first season in his career that he has only been able to play in one tournament.
So far in his career Federer has won 103 ATP titles and spent a record 310 weeks as world No.1.
