Roger Federer, obsessed with performing hard on Wimbledon to try to achieve your 21st Grand Slam, you will arrive at the Cathedral (from the 28th) with more doubts than certainties. In the ATP 500 in Halle, on the grass in which he has been champion ten times, he was eliminated in the round of 16 by the young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (20 years and 21st in the world) by 4-6, 6-3 and 6 -2 in 1h: 47. He could only win in his debut the Belarusian Ilya Ivashka (90º) and this year it presents a balance of five victories and three defeats. Too little.
Federer will turn 40 in August and after a practically blank 2020 with two operations on his right knee and 13 months in the dry dock, he has not just met again. Head down, with a feeling of frustration and blackout in the changes of ends, he left the track without giving a fight in the last two sets. Delivered before the pupil of Toni Nadal. The Swiss lost his serve once in the second set and twice in the third, without being able to shield himself with one of his best weapons. Auger-Aliassime did not suffer because Federer offered him up to 15 break opportunities.
Three hours later, the Swiss attended a press conference. “You need to digest the third set, because I was quite disenchanted by how the game ended. I didn’t have a good attitude. I need to be positive and look at the next goal, which is Wimbledon, “he justified himself. Regarding his apparent lack of mobility, he explained that rehabilitation was “a great challenge” and that this is his “greatest concern.”
Wimbledon, where the Swiss has reigned in eight editions, will see his king arrive in very low hours. With only four tournaments this year and with the withdrawal of Roland Garros as a precaution before playing the eighth. A Federer who is not Federer.