Swiss tennis great Roger Federer admitted he initially had reservations about retirement but is glad that he could do so in the way he did.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion ended his record-breaking career at the Laver Cup last September. A team event that he co-founded via his boutique company TEAM8. Federer’s decision to stop playing followed a lengthy battle with a knee injury, which proved too much of an issue for him to recover from. During his career, he won 103 ATP titles, spent 310 weeks as world No.1 and earned more than $130M in prize money.
Federer is currently in New York launching his first fashion collection which was designed with fashion designer JW Anderson. The sports-inspired collection includes jackets, joggers and Polo shirts. It has been created in partnership with casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer Uniqlo.
Speaking to reporters at an event to coincide with his latest venture, the 41-year-old spoke openly about retiring from the sport and the feelings he had leading up to his decision.
“Life without the game, and life without the fans, and life without the schedule that has dominated my life for 25 years has definitely been something I didn’t know how I would take. For the longest time, I tried to come back and give it one more shot and leave the game healthy, but it was not doable,” The New York Times quoted Federer as saying.
“But the good/bad thing about Covid, and with my knee surgery, is that everything started to slow down in the past three years, so it wasn’t like I came from playing 100 matches and then boom, it’s over.’
“At the end I was relieved, I think, and happy to retire. It ended in the most perfect way at the Laver Cup. I was surrounded by my biggest rivals, and my family was there and my friends. For me it felt like, “OK, I’m good now. I don’t need to chase that itch any more.”
The Swiss maestro is regarded as one of the all-time greats of tennis and holds various records. He has spent a record 237 consecutive weeks as world No.1, holds the record for most titles won at six separate tournaments (including Wimbledon) and has won 369 Grand Slam matches. Furthermore, Federer never retired from any of his 1526 singles matches played.
Earlier this year, he returned to Wimbledon where a special presentation took place to mark his status as the most decorated male player in the tournament’s history with eight titles. Novak Djokovic could have equalled the milestone this season but lost in the final to Carlos Alcaraz.
“Last year, I walked out on Centre Court for the 100-year anniversary celebration. It was beautiful but painful. I was injured. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again, so it was a very emotional moment,” said Federer.
“But this year was totally different. My dad whispered to me, “Don’t you wish you were playing on court instead of sitting and watching?” and I was like, “No. I feel content watching and enjoying the game.”
In May Forbes listed Federer as the ninth highest-paid athlete of 2023 even though he had retired from the sport eight months earlier. His earnings were estimated to be $95.1M with $95M of that coming from endorsements.
