Roger Federer will call upon the golden memory of his Grand Slam breakthrough at Wimbledon 10 years ago to fuel his belief that he is still a contender at the majors
The 31-year-old Swiss suffered a humbling 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 defeat in the French Open quarter-finals on Tuesday at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a loss which was his cue to head to the grass courts of Halle and then Wimbledon.
It was in 2003 at the All England Club that the world number two won the first of his record 17 Grand Slam titles and he will return to London in just over two weeks as defending champion.
“I love the grass court season, especially it’s been 10 years since my first Wimbledon victory. So I’m looking forward to coming back to Halle and Wimbledon where I did the double ten years ago, so I’m sure it’s going to be a nice swing,” said Federer.
Federer arrived in Paris having not won a title in the year for the first time in 13 years.
His loss on Tuesday means that his runner-up finish to Rafael Nadal in Rome last month is his only appearance in a final this year.
And with his 32nd birthday approaching in August, Federer knows that a failure to defend his title at Wimbledon, where he has won seven times, will only increase the suspicion that his best days are behind him.
