By Alberto Amalfi | Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Roger Federer says he's committed to playing through the 2020 Wimbledon and will make a decision in the coming weeks on playing beyond SW19.
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Wimbledon 2020 could be Roger Federer's competitive curtain call.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion says he will play The Championships next year and will definitely decide "over the next few weeks" whether he will play beyond Wimbledon or pull the plug on his brilliant career.
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“Inside myself I decided that I want to play until Wimbledon,” Federer said in comments published by Eurosport. “Now I am busy about making a choice for Tokyo [2020 Olympic Games].
"I already discussed about it with my team and I asked how they see it. I also spoke with [wife] Mirka. I will definitely take a decision over the next weeks."
The eight-time Wimbledon champion is in Geneva for Laver Cup this week.
Federer didn't say if or when he'd reveal his final decision and said maintaining a balance between family life and playing schedule is vital.
“For me it’s just important to have a stretch of tournaments and enjoy a break, have enough time for my family," Federer said.
Partnering buddy Stan Wawrinka, Federer struck doubles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games then fell to Andy Murray in the gold-medal match at the 2012 London Games. Federer said he hopes to play the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, but has not reached a final decision.
"I'm very excited about the prospect of maybe playing the Olympic Games, but I'm not quite sure yet," Federer said. "My planning goes until Wimbledon next year which is a couple of weeks before the Olympics, so I guess I'm going to be deciding on the Olympic Games in the next few weeks, hopefully the next month or so.
"It's been such a special event for me over the years. Me and my wife in 2000 carrying the flag in Athens and Beijing for the Swiss Olympic delegation which was a huge dream for me come true."
The 38-year-old Swiss came achingly close to collecting his 21st Grand Slam championship—and first since the 2018 Australian Open—holding two championship points in the Wimbledon final.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic denied championship points in the final set fighting off Federer, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) to successfully defend his Wimbledon title in The Championships' longest final—and first men’s major final decided in a fifth-set tie breaker.
Federer has contested the Wimbledon final in five of his last eight appearances at SW19. The five-time US Open champion's last Flushing Meadows final was in 2015.
In the 2019 Wimbledon final Federer was bidding to beat Djokovic for the first time in a Grand Slam since the 2012 Wimbledon, become the oldest man to win a major in the Open Era and defeat rivals Rafael Nadal and Djokovic in the same Slam for the first time.
"I don't know if losing 2-2-2 feels better than this one," said Federer, who is 20-11 lifetime in major finals. "At the end it actually doesn't matter to some extent. You might feel more disappointed, sad, over-angry. I don't know what I feel right now. I just feel like it's such an incredible opportunity missed, I can't believe it. It is what it is, you know."