Roger Federer is probably the greatest male tennis player of all time. He’s broken just about every record in the book and, at the ripe old age of 32 for a male tennis player, you would think his career is drawing to a close.
And that might just be the case. Roger has been slipping down the rankings over the past 12 months and no-one would be all that surprised to receive the news that the great man is ready to hang up his racket.
This seems like an insult to the man with a world record 17 Grand Slam tournament wins under his belt, four of which were achieved in Melbourne. But age catches up with us all eventually and it would seem that Roger’s time has come. Or has it?
In October, Roger split with his coach of three years, Paul Annacone under whose guidance he had achieved his twin aims of at least one more Grand Slam victory – alongside regaining the world number one position.
And when you bear in mind that Roger was already a relatively old 29 when he teamed up with Annacone – you have to wonder what his motives are behind this latest move. The split certainly doesn’t seem like the decision of a man intending to quit any time soon – and yet he has achieved so much in the game already that it’s difficult to see exactly what he wants to do next.
Let’s hope he still sees a way back up the rankings of the sport – and let’s also hope that his odds of 2001 for Melbourne with Betfair are soon slashed as he makes his way through the rounds down-under.