Roger Federer belongs to a select group of athletes that are born and raised destined to achieve greatness during their lifetime. As far as the Swiss' trajectory into greatness is concerned, we might want to consider him beating his childhood idol Pete Sampras at Wimbledon as the life-altering event that triggered all.
Now that the Tennis world is watching closely with the 2019 Wimbledon Championships underway, it seems only natural to let ourselves dive into a rich conversation about the guy. After all, he represents the tournament's most prominent figure and is a major contender for this year's men's singles title.
Sports longevity reshaped by Federer
Until a few years ago, when the tennis-related discussions were about to land into the longevity field, some longtime-standing paradigm stated that once a player got into his 30s, the game was over as far as top performance was concerned.
Then, the season of 2016 came and Roger Federer - then in his mid-30s - was forced into a six-month hiatus from sports. It was a career-ending-scenario many were ready to embrace. A similar path during the same year saw Rafael Nadal taking a long hiatus too. It felt like an era was about to end, not on the actor's terms though, as father time seemed to have taken its toll.
As it turned out, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal survived their hiatuses and came back stronger and, what's even more important, wanting for more.
And, according to ESPN, Federer and Nadal will feature in a charity tennis match in Cape Town, South Africa in 2020.
Three years later after that strange season of 2016, Roger Federer is pretty much alive and kicking with the possibility of a ninth Wimbledon title in sight. According to atpworldtour.com, he's into the tournament's second week after a smashing tennis performance against France's Lucas Pouille.
The highlights of that match are still crawling on the retina.
As a bonus, Federer and Nadal are on a collision course for the semis, just weeks after the Spaniard won in a similar phase of a Grand Slam at the French Open.
Federer promotes a unique approach for tennis
In the late stages of his tennis career, Roger Federer has chosen to blend enjoying being on a tennis court with heading into a much more philosophical approach during the press conferences.
He seems to be willing to share more about the intricacies of his own mechanism, and given that, there's no surprise his press conferences are a pleasure to watch. On top of that, the guy speaks several languages, therefore, English, Swiss German, and French are all part of the lesson.
This year had a special feature with Federer's decision to test his body during the clay-court season. Even though he didn't win anything big, he was there with the top guns on the red stuff. That was part of his late philosophy that includes a more relaxed approach to tennis. He's probably aware of the little amount of time he has left as a professional player and wants to have no regrets when the final bell rings.
As for the tennis addicts, his decision to hang on a bit longer is nothing but good news. Enjoying his tennis wizardry over the last two decades has been a privilege and will remain the same for whatever time he thinks he can still deliver.
