It’s rare that the very best players lose on the biggest stages. When they do, most often they dive into the post-match press conference within minutes, in order to exit the scene of their defeat in minimum time.
Roger Federer required an hour and a quarter after his straight sets demolition by Hubert Hurkacz before he came in to complete the media formalities. Perhaps he needed the time to compose himself. After all, the last time he lost a set to love here was… never. Federer had never been bagelled at Wimbledon, and only once this century anywhere (by Nadal at Roland-Garros in 2008).
“I really don’t know if that was the last time I’ll play Wimbledon,” said Federer bleakly. “I have to take a few days, then go from there. Hubert played great. It was tough, you know. The last few games obviously… you can feel that you're not coming back from it. I'm not used to that kind of situation, especially not here.
“The last 18 months have been long and hard. I felt very disappointed in the moment [of defeat] itself. I still am. I feel horribly exhausted. I could go for a nap right now. You put everything on the line, and when it's all over you could just go sleep because you're so exhausted from mentally pushing yourself forward, and trying everything.”
But immediate retirement, he clarified, is not in his thoughts, despite his two knee surgeries in 2020.
“No, it's just about having perspective. You need a goal when you're going through rehab. You can't think of the entire mountain to climb at once. You got to go in steps. Wimbledon was the initial first super-step.
"As you can see, it was a struggle for me and putting in extra effort all the time, especially when things got difficult against Hubert. I knew it was going to be really hard. Now I just got to talk to the team, take my time, take the right decision.”
He declared himself “very happy” to have reached the quarter-finals, although his tone conveyed less than delight.
“The body actually overall feels fine from the matches. I'm happy I went through all the process of taking losses and trying to play in Paris and Geneva and Doha and Halle, getting myself into match toughness and fitness here in Wimbledon. The process was incredibly slow. The goal was to compete at Wimbledon last year. I barely made it for this year. It was a long, hard road.
“Clearly there's still a lot of things missing in my game that maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago were very simple and very normal for me to do. Nowadays they don't happen naturally anymore. I got to always put in the extra effort mentally to remember to do this or do that. I have a lot of ideas on the court, but sometimes I can't do what I want to do.
“Even though of course I'm disappointed I lost today, I feel like there was a chance, but that's how it goes. I'll be fine. I know how I am in these situations. I go maybe very hard on myself, I get very sad, and then after a few hours, even a few days, I'll be totally fine again and be my old self. I have perspective about it, so it's all good.”
Federer wanted more, and he couldn’t deliver it. In this regard, he feels as we all might. You don’t know what you’ve got, til it’s gone.
Click here to join myWimbledon for a range of exclusive benefits, including access to tickets and the ability to personalise your digital experience with us.
Following along from home this year?
You can still experience the classic Wimbledon atmosphere on the Virtual Hill, presented by our Official Partner American Express.
Register now to visit and win daily prizes, including tickets to The Championships 2022.
