Almost two years after playing his final match on Center Court, Roger Federer returned to Wimbledon for a special ceremony in his honor on Tuesday.
Organizers at The All England Club invited the Swiss maestro to attend an event to mark his status as the most decorated men’s singles champion in the tournament’s history. Federer is an eight-time champion at Wimbledon and was unbeaten between 2003-2007. Overall, he has played 119 matches at the Grand Slam, winning 105 of those. He made his debut in 1999 and played his last match in 2021. Reaching the quarter-final stage or better in 18 out of 22 appearances.
Federer is only one of two players to have won five consecutive Wimbledon titles along with Bjorn Borg. Although Djokovic could become the third player to do so if he claims the trophy this year. The Serbian could also equal Federer’s record if he triumphs.
Before the start of Elena Rybakina’s match on Center Court, a video was played to the crowd of Federer’s most memorable moments at the Championships, featuring comments about him from various other players with one of those being Rafael Nadal. Then he walked to the center of the Royal Box whilst receiving a standing ovation from the crowd but he gave no speech.
Since retiring from the sport, the 41-year-old has kept mainly out of the media spotlight. Last month in Halle, Federer told reporters that his foundation received 12,000 inquiries from the media, sponsors and tournaments within a six-month.
“Maybe I made a bit of a mistake, too. Because I told a lot of people, let me know when I stopped, and now the wave is coming in,” he said.
During his illustrious career, Federer won a staggering 103 ATP titles and claimed 1251 wins on the Tour. He currently holds the record for most titles won at Basel (10), Halle (10), Wimbledon (8), ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (7), and the Nitto ATP Finals (6).
