Wimbledon pays tribute to Roger Federer

Federer, who won 20 Grand Slam tournaments during his sports careerappeared this Tuesday morning at the All England Club accompanied by his wife Mirka Vavrinek to receive a small tribute before the match between Elena Rybakina and Shelby Rogers on center court, which he witnessed from the royal box.

The Helvetian returned for the third time since his retirement to the tournament where he won his first Major in 2003. Federer was present at the centenary of Central Court last year, before announcing his own retired in the Laver Cupand since then he has visited the club on several occasions, to greet chairman Ian Hewitt and meet Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales.

In it royal boxReserved for big personalities and members of the tournament, Roger Federer was cheered on by his fathers Robert and Lynette and his wife. The former tennis player, who did not set foot on the court and appeared only in the box, experienced several minutes of ovation, before he greeted his wife and sat down in his chair to watch the match.

Federer’s first Wimbledon

Appreciating the proceedings of the Central Court 📸#wimbledon pic.twitter.com/BYAzCEyZqH

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 4, 2023

– Since I was little, I always joked that one day I would win this. Roger Federer lifts the Wimbledon trophy and bursts into tears. He is 22 years old to win his first Grand Slam and ends with thousands of voices assuring that he will be another broken tennis toy, a man who would never live up to expectations which he generated by winning this tournament five years ago in the junior category, much less would he be the successor to Sampras, the great champion he dethroned in 2001.

Sue Barker, the legendary Wimbledon commentator who has interviewed the champions for decades, opened the champion’s speech with a simple, foreboding statement: “You should get used to this.”

Federer, then less loose in speech, doubting his nerves, hugging the golden cup and on the verge of tears he laughed and confirmed that he had just fulfilled the dream of his youththe illusion of a boy from Basel who imagined himself imitating Stefan Edberg and Bjorn Borg.

When Federer appeared at Wimbledon this Tuesday, now retired, he did so as the tournament honored him for his career, which ended late last year in this very city, with the Laver Cup. Twenty years have passed since he won his first Wimbledon and his first Grand Slam and the beginning of one of the best careers in the history of tennis and sports in general.