The feeling is that each time it would be a bit harder, a bit more complicated because he needs to dig his way out of a hole that gets a few inches deeper every time. A hole dug by the passing of time, not quite exactly the kindest opponent.
Of course, we are talking about a man who holds his own against time pretty well. Less than a year ago, Roger Federer played that famous 8-7, 40-15 match you probably may have heard a thing or two about (even if the plot turned in favour of his Serbian opponent, at the end).
Three years ago, after a five months break from the tour, he wore the Superman mantle to win a Grand Slam title in Australia, despite his 17th seed, overcoming both his rivals and superstition.
That’s why we definitely cannot dismiss his aim to come back on the court in his 40s, but we must take some facts into considerations nonetheless. The recently announced second arthroscopic procedure on his right knee in a four-month timespan is not good news. Even if this is not an invasive procedure, even if it’s not uncommon for athletes to have multiple surgeries of this kind in a few months, and even if it could allow doctors to carefully inspect the conditions of his joint, it is definitely a sign that the first surgery did not solve the issue that was troubling Federer.
Arthroscopy is used to treat a broad spectrum of conditions, from meniscus, ligaments and patella injuries to mobile bone fragments removal, and, with no precise indications about the specific issue Federer is dealing with, it’s very difficult to speculate.
What we do know, however, is that the Swiss player is willing to come back on the tour in 2021, the year he’ll turn 40. Very few players, especially in the Open Era, were still playing at that age: Radek Stepanek, Tommy Haas, El Aynaoui and Dick Norman all stopped at 39. A remarkable exception is Ivo Karlovic, the 1979-born Croatian who played in all four Grand Slam tournaments last year and eclipsed Jimmy Connors’ 1992 campaign – the American turned 40 in September that season and contested in all but one Grand Slam, the Australian Open, a tournament he only played twice in his career.
Besides Connors and Karlovic, just two other players had been ranked among the top 100 in the world while in their forties. The first one is little known Danish player Torben Ulrich, who first appeared in a Grand Slam draw in 1948: he never won a single tournament, but was still active in 1975, at almost 47, in both Grand Prix and WCT Tours. Ulrich was ranked 98th in the world at 46 years of age and won his last official match against Pancho Segura, in Lacosta, USA, in 1974.
The second one is Ken Rosewall. The Australian legend appeared for the final time in a Grand Slam competition on his home soil at 44 – losing in the third round – and reached two finals a few months before turning 40, at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open – he lost both matches, badly, to Jimmy Connors.
Limiting the analysis to Wimbledon, however, it emerges that the oldest contestant in its glorious history was Major Josiah George Ritchie, at the staggering age of almost 56, in 1926. His short Wikipedia page reports a fun out-of-time note to clarify that “Major was his first name, not a military title.”
But let’s take a look at the Open Era book of records, because that is where things get interesting. By entering The 2021 Championships at 39 years and 11 months of age, Federer would set a remarkable benchmark in the history of the Open Era, but not an outright record. It would be enough to surpass Connors, but Rosewall (1978) and Karlovic (2019) would still retain a better record.
The very top spot on this special list is held by 44-year-old Pancho Gonzalez in 1972, the same guy who was still among the top seeded players in the 1969 edition of the Championships. At 41 years of age.
As a side note, two other players born in 1981 have publicly stated their intention to compete at SW19 next year: Feliciano Lopez, one month younger than the Swiss ace, and the Italian Paolo Lorenzi, who aims to rejoin the top 100 before retiring.
We may have missed some other names, but, if so, they are no more than a handful. Very few players competed in singles at ATP level tournaments in their forties and, among them, only Rosewall proved competitive for major titles. An astonishing feat he may soon have to share with Roger Federer, if the Swiss player follows up on his comeback plan next year.
A sensational coup we better start to believe in, because it’s Roger Federer we are talking about – he has accustomed us to that kind of achievements.
Translated by Filippo Ambrosi; edited by Tommaso Villa
