Roger Federer: John McEnroe will not write it off this time
John McEnroe also gets smarter with age.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 19, 2020, 05:01 pm
In the past few years, there have been some who came to premature conclusions about Roger Federer . In 2013, when Federer had a relatively weak season due to back problems, he was advised to withdraw from many sides in order not to damage his legacy.
And in 2016, when he stumbled on his comeback after his knee surgery and even went down in the Wimbledon semi-final against Milos Raonic, some saw this as a picture of Federer's current situation. After the Swiss announced the end of the season at the end of July, the big question was: Can Federer really win something big again?
Federer gave the answer faster than expected. Federer showed his old form and new aggressiveness at his first appearances at the Hopman Cup - afterwards he did a miracle run at the Australian Open and won three five-set matches in a row. With an all-time classic in the final against Rafael Nadal, in which he delivered perhaps the best 20 minutes of his life towards the end.
A comeback that also forced John McEnroe to rethink . He had been at Raonic's side as a lawn coach at the Wimbledon tournament in 2016, "'then Roger limped off the court and didn't play for six months. And I thought, you know, that's pretty much it."
McEnroe on Federer: "Never write off"
McEnroe was wrong. "That's four years ago. And he came back after not having played for six months and managed to win the Australian Open (the next) year, winning three best-of-five set matches, which is virtually unheard of to begin with, and to win three majors post-surgery. So you never can count him out.''
McEnroe and Federer will meet again in September at the latest when the fourth Laver Cup takes place in Boston. McEnroe then wants to get the first victory here with Team World. An opponent then: Roger Federer - at the tender age of 39.