 Roger Federer is retiring | | | Saying that his 41-year-old body is telling him it's "time to end my competitive career" after three injury-plagued years, the Swiss great announced today that he'll walk away from pro tennis following next week's Laver Cup team event in London.
Given his age and knee problems that have prevented him from competing since his quarter-final loss at Wimbledon in July 2021, Federer's announcement isn't exactly a shock. But fans had hoped for a victory lap after Federer indicated this summer that he'd like to play one more time at Wimbledon, where he won a men's-record eight of his 20 Grand Slam singles titles.
In addition to his Slam triumphs, Federer captured Olympic doubles gold for Switzerland in 2008 with teammate Stan Wawrinka, and singles silver in 2012 in London, where he lost the final at the All England Club to Britain's Andy Murray just a few weeks after beating him in the Wimbledon title match on the same court.
Since making his pro debut at the age of 16 in 1998, Federer has won 103 tour-level titles and racked up 1,251 singles wins — both second to Jimmy Connors in the Open era. He holds the record for most consecutive weeks atop the men's rankings, and for oldest men's No. 1 (he regained the top spot at age 36 in 2018, the year he won his final major). At the height of his powers, Federer won 11 of the 16 majors played in the 2004 through 2007 seasons.
The stats are staggering, but the best way to appreciate Federer's brilliance was by watching him play. Powerful yet graceful, fiercely determined yet elegant, Federer sometimes seemed as much an artist as an athlete. Over the course of his career, he became not just the finest player in tennis but the sport's ideal gentleman — a stunning evolution to anyone who remembers the bratty, ponytailed teen whose on-court tantrums marred his early days on tour.
With Federer exiting the stage, tennis has now lost arguably the greatest men's and women's players of all time in the span of just a few weeks. Serena Williams announced last month that she was retiring (or "evolving away from tennis" as she put it) before losing in the third round of the U.S. Open, which is expected to be her final tournament.
Serena is almost universally acclaimed as the greatest women's player ever, even though her 23 Grand Slam singles titles put her one short of Margaret Court's all-time record. Court, the argument goes, won most of hers in the far-less-competitive amateur era, and besides, Serena connected with fans and shattered cultural barriers in ways that Court could never dream. When we're debating all-time greats, vibes can matter just as much as numbers.
That's also the case for Federer on the men's side. Yes, his one-time record of 20 men's singles Slam titles has been surpassed by both other members of the Big Three. Rafael Nadal is up to 22, Novak Djokovic to 21, and they're probably not done, considering they combined to win three of the four majors this year. But, for some tennis fans, neither of them can match Federer in terms of pure style. Nadal's fighting spirit is incredible, and he's every bit the gentleman Federer is both on and off the court, but his game is more about brute force and determination. The relentless Djokovic will probably end up with the record, considering he's the youngest of the three and in super-human physical condition, but his personality can rub people the wrong way. He also may have harmed his own legacy by throwing away two Slams this year because of his refusal to get vaccinated.
In the end, greatness is in the eye of the beholder. You can make a good case for any of the Big Three being the GOAT. But, when we look back on this golden age of tennis in the years and decades to come, Federer will probably be the one remembered most fondly. Read more about his marvelous career here. | | |  | Roger Federer won Wimbledon for the eighth and final time in 2017. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) | | | Quickly… | | | An American teenager went where no figure skater had gone before. Ilia Malinin, the 17-year-old phenom who has branded himself the "quadg0d" on social media, made history last night by becoming the first person to land a quadruple Axel in competition. Malinin pulled off the 4½-rotation jump — the most difficult in the quad family and the last one to be conquered — in front of almost no fans at the lower-level U.S. Classic event in Lake Placid, N.Y. But word of his feat spread quickly around the figure skating world, which had seen current Olympic champion Nathan Chen (a fantastic jumper himself) toy with the quad Axel in practice and former Olympic champ Yuzuru Hanyu try unsuccessfully to land it at this year's Games. With Chen having stepped away from the sport after his Olympic victory and Hanyu announcing his retirement in July, Malinin could be the marquee attraction in men's figure skating this season. He's expected to make his senior-level debut in October at the Grand Prix's Skate America event in Boston and is also slated to compete at the Grand Prix stop in Finland in late November. Read more about Malinin's historic quad Axel and watch it here.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a milestone. The fourth-year Blue Jays slugger smacked his 100th career home run last night. At 23 years, 182 days old, he became the 10-youngest player in baseball history to join the century club and the youngest Blue Jay to do it (Carlos Delgado held the previous record at a little over 26 years old). Guerrero is two years younger than his Hall-of-Fame dad, Vlad Sr., was when he reached 100 homers. Vlad Jr.'s solo shot in the first inning propelled Toronto to a 5-1 win over Tampa Bay that ensured the Jays will win the teams' rare five-game series in Toronto. The Jays were trying for their fourth win over the Rays this afternoon in a game that started at 3:07 p.m. ET. Next up is three games vs. Baltimore. Heading into today, Toronto topped the AL wild-card standings by half a game over Seattle and a full game over Tampa Bay. If the post-season started today, those would be the three AL wild cards. Baltimore is four games behind Tampa Bay and running out of time to climb into a playoff position.
The WNBA Finals could be decided tonight. The top-seeded Las Vegas Aces can capture the first title in franchise history by completing a sweep of the third-seeded Connecticut Sun. League MVP and Defensive Player of the Year A'ja Wilson is in line to add the Finals MVP after averaging 25 points and 10.5 rebounds in the first two games of the best-of-five. Game 3 tips off at 9 p.m. ET in Connecticut. | | | Coming up on CBC Sports | | | Here's what you can live-stream tonight and Friday on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem:
Curling: Watch the women's Alberta Curling Series Major tonight from 9 p.m. ET to midnight ET and Friday from noon ET to 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET to midnight ET.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Watch Day 3 of the world championships in Bulgaria on Friday from 7:30 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET.
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