Federer's Retirement

Avi Taneja

December 9, 2022

Roger Federer is objectively the greatest tennis player of time. He has accomplished numerous feats, all of which are superhuman. Federer has won lots of titles in his time, been number one in the ATP ranking system for almost five years consecutively, and was the first ever player to accomplish the ambitious task of reaching twenty grand slams. He has set records unimaginable to any normal tennis player, but Federer is superhuman. But where did he start and how did he get here?

Well, Federer was born on August 8th, 1981 in Switzerland. He started a little late, beginning his legendary career sport at the age of 8 years old. He became the junior champion of Switzerland at the age of 14. 1998 was the year of the win in the Wimbledon junior singles championship as well as the Orange Bowl junior tournament crown in Miami. The next year Federer placed 64th, making him the youngest player at 18 years and 4 months to be in the top 100. He competed at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney and advanced to the prestigious bronze medal at a young age. And at the end of the year in 2002, he was the sixth-best player in the world, setting records unimaginable at the time. The next year he won his first Grand Slam of his twenty at Wimbledon (his one of eight gold medals at Wimbledon). The next year he won the Australian Open, and U.S. Open and defended his title yet again. He continued to rack up insane numbers of Grand Slams, on a roll never stopping for anyone. He won four consecutive U.S. Open titles, a record accomplished by no one else. He did win the 2008 gold medal in Beijing in men’s doubles with Stan Wawrinka.

Federer continued to go and go, even shocking the world when he won the 2017 Australian Open. Seeded 17th and fresh out of surgery, he surprised the world by winning the single’s titles in an intense five-set match against the one and only Rafael Nadal. He came back on a winning streak and eventually was the first to achieve the legendary twenty grand slam titles. And in September of 2022 the world of tennis got the saddest news ever. The legend himself was retiring after one last tournament in London. But as people are saddened by this, they forget what he did for the game. Federer changed the game and set records no one thought was possible. So let us thank Federer and understand his decision to go because everyone has a limit, even the legends.