The All England Club had to close in 2020 due to the pandemic, not welcoming tennis players for the first time since 1946! The world’s biggest stars returned to Wimbledon a year ago, and eight-time champion Roger Federer was among them.
It was Roger’s fourth tournament in the past 16 months, battling a knee injury and not being a Wimbledon favorite for the first time in two decades!
The bookmakers placed Federer below the heavy favorites but he didn’t care, concentrating on his game and the games after an early Halle exit. Roger named defending champion Novak Djokovic as a player to beat, followed by Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev.
Djokovic, Federer, Zverev and Medvedev all advanced to the third round, and Roger kept pace with his much younger rivals after beating Adrian Mannarino and Richard Gasquet.
Federer picked Djokovic as the Wimbledon winner last year.
The Swiss would go on to overcome two more hurdles to find himself in the quarter-finals and become the oldest player in the Open era to reach the last eight places at Wimbledon.
Federer couldn’t go any further after a heavy loss to Hubert Hurkacz in 3 sets. Roger predicted the winner of the tournament, as Djokovic knocked down Matteo Berrettini in four sets to lift the sixth Wimbledon trophy and close in on the Swiss.
Federer and Djokovic contested an epic Wimbledon 2019 final, with the Serb fending off two match points for a 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 win in a dramatic four-legged match hours and 57 minutes!
“I don’t know how to explain it to you. I don’t care about bookmakers’ odds, it doesn’t matter. Still, they’re probably right that Djokovic made all those finals on the other side. , that he is the favorite in this part of the table and for the whole tournament.
I think Zverev should be higher in the list of bookmakers, maybe because I’ve played him on grass before. I know he can play well on this surface, especially if he synchronizes his serves.
Medvedev is world number 2. Normally it should be there too. And then me, with my results here, they still have to put me somewhere. But they’re probably right about Djokovic and his status as a favourite” said Roger Federer.
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