(Paris) Roger Federer enchanted courts around the world for two decades, but his adventures at Wimbledon, the temple of tennis where he won eight times, would have been enough to make him a legend in his sport.

The Swiss has lived it all on the English turf: his first Grand Slam success (2003), his greatest victories (the five in a row from 2003 to 2007), his most cruel (and Homeric) defeat (against Rafael Nadal in 2008 ) and his fiercest finals (the one won against Andy Roddick in 2009 and the one lost against Novak Djokovic in 2019 after two missed match points).

Trained on clay courts in his country, Federer discovered the All England Club in 1998 as a junior. The success was immediate: victory in singles and doubles. “From the start, I knew I was going to play well here. This is where I am the best. I don’t know why”, he will say much later.

In fact, the surface suited his game perfectly, especially his extraordinarily precise, worked and varied serves which slid on the grass more than on other surfaces. In the final against Roddick in 2009 (16-14 in the fifth set), he managed no less than 50 aces. The grass also sublimated his backhand and his dazzling forehands.

Federer still groped to find the right tactic. After the ” chip and charge (rush to the net) which allowed him to achieve the first coup of his career, a victory over Pete Sampras, then four-time defending champion, in the round of 16 in 2001, he opted for a much better mix of groundstrokes and volleys.

Unplayable for four years

This is how he won his first major title, in 2003, beating Australian Mark Philippoussis in the final. The biggest obstacle had been overcome in the half: the American Andy Roddick, then seeded number one, who was to become one of his favorite victims (he beat him three times in the final).

The very chic atmosphere of “Church Road” also suited him perfectly. If other champions, like Andre Agassi, were enraged at having to play all in white, he never complained about the famous dress code that matched his understated elegance. The English public loved him back, except perhaps when he beat Andy Murray in the final in 2012.

Federer is unquestionably the greatest player in Wimbledon history. And time is running out for Novak Djokovic, who won seven titles in London, if he wants to threaten his record.

But paradoxically, his most unforgettable match will remain a defeat: the famous 2008 final against Nadal, often considered the greatest match in history with the Borg-McEnroe of 1980.

For four years, from 2003 to 2006, the Swiss champion had been unplayable in London. But in 2007, the young Nadal, still too tender the previous year in the final, had placed a first banderilla by pushing the master of the place in a fifth set. The following year, the third consecutive Federer-Nadal final was going to be the good one for the Majorcan… and the worst day of his great rival’s career (6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9- 7).

The “disaster” of 2008

After five sets of dazzling tennis on both sides, the Swiss put a final forehand into the net which precipitated him into “disaster”, as he put it. “This is by far my hardest defeat. There is no possible comparison. In Paris, it was nothing,” he said, having been crushed by the same rival in the Roland-Garros final a month earlier.

It’s that the Basel has always placed Wimbledon above everything. “As long as I win at Wimbledon and I’m world number, everything is fine,” he said when Nadal inflicted defeat after defeat at Roland-Garros (from 2005 to 2008).

It only took him a year to rise to the top, and higher than ever. In 2009, on the heels of his long-awaited victory in Paris, he broke Sampras’ record for Grand Slam titles with a fifteenth trophy, his sixth in London. He will hold it for eleven years, continuing to increase his total to 20, until Nadal (in 2020) and then Djokovic (in 2021) join him and then overtake him.

Two other triumphs will follow at Wimbledon: in 2012 when he equaled Sampras’ record of seven victories and in 2017 when he improved it, in the heart of his “second youth”, at almost 36 years old.

Fate has however reserved for the immense champion a cruel exit: a 6-0 inflicted by the Pole Hurkacz to conclude a defeat in three sets in the quarter-finals of the 2021 edition.

Which, but no one knew at the time, will go down as his last game.

“It has been a privilege to witness your journey and see you become a champion in every sense of the word. […]. All we can say is thank you, for the memories and the joy you have given to so many”, commented on twitter the organizers of the London Grand Slam.