At what point will Roger Federer retire? Last week, in his hometown of Basel, the 38-year-old won it again, smoking Alex de Minaur in straight sets. That was six times in a row and a total of 10. He has racked it up, winning 103 titles, only eclipsed by Jimmy Connors’ 109. That is unimaginable, really.
A couple of days ago, he said that yes, he will play in 2020. But in 2020, after he is done at the Olympics, will he wave goodbye? Possibly not, and maybe he wants to continue to play when he is 40 years old. But the older you get, you are a little bit slower. Yes, he has won 20 Grand Slams, but the last time he won it was at the 2018 Australian Open. That has been one year and nine months. That is not a big deal, but it is important.
In the final, at the Slams, it is an emotional trip. Federer was so close at Wimbledon with two match points against Novak Djokovic. But the Serbian edged him, 13-12 in the fifth set. It was right there, but Djokovic was very capable. After the match, Federer was extremely hurt, but he stood up and he talked a lot.
Soon, at the ATP Finals, the Swiss will re-charge. Federer just pulled out of Paris. It doesn’t look like he was hurt, but playing week-after-week can be tiring. He couldn’t risk the wear on his body. In many ways, that’s a smart move.
He likes London and he has won it six times, a record. But, Rafa Nadal will be there, and Djokovic, too. Another terrific player, Daniil Medvedev will also be there, as will Dominic Theim, who just won Vienna. All of them will be very close playing indoors. The last time that Federer won the ATP Finals was in 2011, when he beat Jo Tsonga in three sets. Since he lost three finals to Djokovic. In 2018, he lost to Alexandra Zverev in the semifinals.
Maybe Federer will get a chance to be very solid, extremely powerful and deep. While he has be a master of the indoor tournaments, the question is can he win another ATP Final title?
WTA Finals
The 2019 WTA Finals is going on in Shenzhen, China. Already, there were some wonderful matches. Over the past two days, there were three matches that was very vivid. Naomi Osaka edged Petra Kvitova but then withdrew, Simona Halep barely beat the young Canadian Bianca Andreescu, and Elina Svitolina. — who won the tournament last year — knocked down Karolina Pliskova. There was another three-setter, but in the third set, and Belinda Bencic went down fast to Ash Barty. On Tuesday Barty fell to Kiki Bertens, who subbed in for Osaka.
It is too early to pick the winner, or even to reach the final, but Svitolina really wants to win it again. No. 1 Barty wants the title, badly, for the first time, but needs to get to 2-1 to have a chance to advance.