On Wednesday, Roger Federer suffered the sort of debilitating defeat that he’s handed to so many opponents during his storied career. The loss by itself should scarcely surprise us. Federer is nearly 40, he’s had two knee surgeries, and he’s barely played any tennis over the last 18 months. But most of all, his opponent, Hubert Hurkacz, is no ordinary player—his star was on the rise even before the quarterfinal. Yet, it was unusual watching Federer lose in the way in which he did. His movement was impaired, he shanked and pulled his forehands wide and long, and, on occasion, even onto the middle of the net.
This was Federer like we’ve never seen before. He’s experienced bad defeats in the past, most notably to Rafael Nadal in the French Open Final in 2008, which he lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. But that was Nadal, on his court, in his pomp. This was Wimbledon, home to Federer’s greatest feats, a place where he’s won an extraordinary eight titles. If you want to go back to the last time he lost in straight sets on the grass here, you’d have to go all the way back to 2002, when he lost to Mario Ancic. Federer followed that defeat with a record-equalling five consecutive titles.
By all accounts, the loss to Ancic was an anomaly. It was like a bookend that marked the beginning of the upswing in Federer’s tennis. This one to Hurkacz feels like the marker at the other end. To be fair to Federer, given the circumstances, he had a good Wimbledon. In Cameron Norrie and Lorenzo Sonego, he ousted two players who are having their best years on the tour. But when you’re a 20-time grand slam champion it must be hard to go back satisfied with a quarterfinal loss. The big question now on every tennis fan’s mind is this: will we ever see Federer play at Wimbledon again? I suspect not.
As for Hurkacz, there are interesting times ahead. During the post-match interview, it seemed he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a big centre-court crowd. The tennis that preceded it, though, showed no signs of nerves. He exhibited a mastery of the game from the off go. He used both serves well, especially the kicker on the second out to the backhand on the ad-court which caused Federer no end of trouble. His rushes to the net were invariably well-timed and he finished points in all manners of ways: there were big booming winners, there were errors that he drew out of Federer through patience and precision, and there was the odd drop-shot, executed with the panache that one would hardly expect from a player of his size.
Hurkacz showed last time around at Wimbledon—when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the third round in 2019—that he’s got all the goods necessary for tennis at the biggest stage: he can guard both corners well and he can convert defence into attack, like the best players often do, with one swoosh of his racquet. I’ll leave you with a point at 1-0 in the second set tie-break that he won against Djokovic (watch around the 1:00 minute mark):
Federer v. Hurkacz
Goodbye Roger!You are the epitome of grace,decorum and fineness.Time to hang it up.