Why Roger Federer might never win another Grand Slam
The poetry surrounding his backhand down the line and effortless forehand can wait. Now, what will speak to us are the numbers.
At the dawn of this decade (2010), Roger Federer had accumulated 15 Grand Slam titles. He had won the Career Slam by lifting the French Open title in 2009, and entered the new decade as the king of the tennis world.
In this decade (2010 to 2019) Federer has managed to win just 5 Grand Slams. While we can comfort ourselves by stating that the maestro is 38 and is on court at a time when his former colleagues have retired to the luxurious comforts of the commentary box, what is glaring is that the crown that adorned his head for so long is slowly slipping away.
Rafael Nadal has accumulated 13 Grand Slam titles in this decade and Novak Djokovic has won as many as 15. Federer has had diminishing returns by his lofty standards. The Swiss maestro delayed the inevitable with an incredible resurgence in 2017 and 2018, where he won three Grand Slam titles to take his tally to 20.
However, in the past year and a half, he has looked vulnerable and allowed players far inferior to him to suddenly gain prominence. In the 2018 Wimbledon, Federer should have closed out the match in the third set against Kevin Anderson. Instead, he squandered a two sets to love lead and allowed the South African to claw his way back into the match and eventually win it.
In the 2018 US Open, John Millman shot into the spotlight by bundling out the Swiss maestro in the fourth round. In the 2019 Australian Open, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat the great Swiss in four sets in the quarterfinal.
In the French Open semifinal, his old nemesis Rafael Nadal pummelled him in straight sets although Federer did look competitive in the early stages.
At Wimbledon though, Federer seemed to return to his regal self. He orchestrated sublime tennis in the final against Djokovic and it seemed as though another fairy tale would be written. However, he once again failed to deliver the killer punch and surrendered to Djokovic despite having match points in the final set.
In the US Open, Grigor Dimitrov picked up his first-ever win over the Swiss, knocking Federer out in the quarterfinals.
Now the question that is inevitably doing the rounds is whether Federer has another Grand Slam title in him.
Federer is now 38 and should come to the realization that he does not have enough time left to add to his glittering collection. Djokovic has proved that the Australian Open is his forte. The Serbian has won six out of the last ten editions of the tournament and is hungry for more.
The French Open has always belonged to Nadal. Wimbledon was the one tournament where Federer always arrived as the favorite. However, in this decade, Djokovic has managed to win the Wimbledon crown on more occasions (5) than Federer (3). The US Open continues to remain a distant dream, with Federer not tasting success there since 2008.
The great Nirmal Shekar put things into perspective when he said: “Sporting farewells cannot be preordained to suit our own fantasies.” That is exactly why, while the countless fans of the most recognizable tennis player on the planet might delude themselves into believing that Federer has the fight in him to win another Grand Slam, reality indicates otherwise.
Although the Swiss has done a fantastic job to remain competitive at the age of 38, it is unlikely he will ever add to his collection of 20 Grand Slam titles.