Roger Federer faced serious questions over his future yesterday after crashing out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals, just five weeks shy of his 40th birthday.
Eight-time Wimbledon champion and 20-time Grand Slam title winner Federer lost 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 to a Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, a player 15 years his junior.
It was only Federer’s 14th defeat at the tournament in 119 matches and his first straight-sets loss since an opening round exit against Mario Ancic in 2002.
“I noticed the mis-hits, awkward looking points from Roger and obviously the last set of course, 6-0,” said former champion Boris Becker commentating on Federer’s performance.
“He would never ever say if there was a niggle, but I don’t know if we will ever see the great man again here.”
World number 18 Hurkacz had never got beyond the third round of a Grand Slam before this Wimbledon.
However, boosted by having defeated world number two Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the last 16, he was a break up on a sluggish-looking Federer in the sixth game of the opening set.
Read Also: French Open: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer in same half
The Swiss star, who underwent two knee surgeries in 2020 and was bidding to be the oldest man in the Wimbledon last-four in over a half a century, carved out a break for 2-0 in the second set. He couldn’t hang on and Hurkacz levelled in the seventh game from 1-4 down before dominating the tiebreak.
Meanwhile, World number one and five-time champion Novak Djokovic reached his 10th Wimbledon semi-final and 41st at the Grand Slams.
Djokovic, chasing a record-equalling 20th major, defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
He will face Canada’s 10th seed Denis Shapovalov, who beat Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, for a place in Sunday’s final.
Leave a Reply