The upcoming Swiss Indoors will be the end of an era for a player who grew up alongside Roger Federer in his native Switzerland.
Marco Chiudinelli will play his final match later this week in Basel before retiring. The 36-year-old, who is a month younger than Federer, announce the decision following a difficult season. Since January, he has only managed to win 10 matches. During that same period, he have spiralled down the rankings from 120 to 353.
“The trend has been pointing in this direction since the summer. I had a difficult year where I felt really good at 5-6 tournaments.” Chiudinelli told Blick.de.
At his best, Chiudinelli reached a ranking high of 52nd in 2010. He won a total of three Challenger titles with his last triumph occurring last year in Wroclaw. Participating in a total of nine grand slam main draws, Chiudinelli’s best run was at the 2009 US Open. In the tournament, he defeated Mikhail Youzhny to reach the third round as a qualifier.
“This was the only time in my career that I had tears in my eyes after a match.” he recalled.
The decision to step away from tennis was sparked by a recent illness affecting the Swiss player. 2017 is his 18th season on the tour. Overall, he has played 712 main draw matches heading into Basel, winning 382 of them.
“I could only take the racket for four or five days. This has confirmed me that now is the right time to stop.”
Growing up with Federer
Chiudinelli’s career took a different path to that of world No.2 Federer. The two have known each other since the age of eight. At one point they were trained by the same coach and play other sports such as table tennis and squash against each other.
“Roger lost to practically everybody in training,” Chiudinelli recounted in the 2009 book The Roger Federer Story, Quest For Perfection.
“He was the only one that I beat, but the difference was enormous. When it came down to business, he could flip a switch and become a completely different person. I admired that about him. I could give him a thrashing in training, but when we played in a tournament a day later, he gave me a thrashing. Even back then he was a real competitor.”
During their professional career, the two only clash twice with Federer winning both of them. Their most memorable was at the 2009 Swiss Open, where opportunities came and went for both players in the match.
“It was very special, because we had already trained together as boys and were also ballboys in Basel. That defeat still strikes me because I gave a set point in the first set. If I had changed it, it could have been different,” Chiudinelli believes.
Both men were part of the winning Swiss Davis Cup team in 2014.
Basel ❤️
So happy to be back in 🇨🇭
Here with my man the MC @mchiudinelli33 pic.twitter.com/mU6U4aPGZC— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) October 20, 2017
