By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, June 29, 2015
Asked, in the above promotional video, what his weaknesses were at this year’s Wimbledon, Roger Federer simply replied “I’m old.”
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Of course he’s joking (sort of?), but the Swiss maestro’s answer gives a bit of insight into how he views himself at this juncture of his career. Is he a threat to win his 18th major and 8th Wimbledon title next week after rolling through his first-round contest with Damir Dzumhur in 68 minutes? Undoubtedly. But even if Federer, recently nicknamed “father timeless” by this publication’s own Richard Pagliaro, doesn’t win he’s got an awful lot to look back and be proud of.
After his 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory on Centre Court today he was asked about his run of 63 consecutive majors played, which is the record for most consecutive Open Era Grand Slam appearances (now seven more than Wayne Ferreira’s previous record of 56).
“I definitely had to get lucky at times,” he said. “I’ve been injured sometimes. Obviously best-of-five set matches, it’s not something where you want to enter a tournament like this not feeling good about any chances you have to progress in the tournament. Every time I did play I felt like I was going to be able to play all out. Of course I’ve played hurt and sick before but somehow the streak is still alive.”
Federer continued with the narrative, next telling his interviewer another feat he was most proud of: “I’m also very proud of the fact that I never retired from a match once it started,” he said. “Those two stats I care about and I hope I can keep them up for the remainder of my career.”
Just to give an idea, the other members of the big four each have more than one loss by retirement at the ATP level. Novak Djokovic has 10, Rafael Nadal has 6 and Andy Murray has 2. You can read more about Roger’s unblemished record in this regard here.
On Tuesday Federer dropped only 12 points on serve and did not face a break point against Dzumhur. His win improved his lifetime record to 137-19 on grass and 74-9 at Wimbledon. Federer, competing at his 17th championships, is currently ten behind Jimmy Connors’ all-time Open Era record for Wimbledon wins (84).
He wasn’t challenged much by Dzumhur today, as he managed five breaks of serve on ten opportunities and was in the lead throughout. But breaks might be harder to come by when he faces the hard-serving Sam Querrey in round two. Querrey squeaked by Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling, 7-6(2), 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 7-5. Federer has won all five sets he’s played against Querrey, but the pair have not met since 2008.