'I would still say Roger Federer on grass, while Rafael Nadal...', says ATP ace

• Tennis News
• Roger Federer

At 38, Roger Federer was still among the players to beat in 2019 and early 2020. The Swiss master reached the Australian Open semi-final in January last year before sustaining a serious knee injury that required two surgeries.

. Federer began practicing again in the final stages of 2020, pushing hard to recover in time for the Australian Open. As we all know, the Swiss could not return to his best level in February, choosing Doha in March as the point of return.

With the grass season on his mind, Roger played three tournaments heading into Halle, hoping to chase the 11th title in one of his favorite events. Instead, Federer lost in the second round to Felix Auger-Aliassime, experiencing Halle's first outing and traveling to London with question marks over his head.

Roger, who played in his fifth tournament since February last year, scored four victories to become the oldest Wimbledon quarter-finalist in the Open Era, marking the showdown against Hubert Hurkacz. Roger Federer felt that he could beat Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon.

Hoping for another h*t streak and an experience triumph over the youth, Federer experienced a tough 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 defeat in one hour and 48 minutes. The Swiss lost ground in the third set to experience the first zero since the 2008 Roland Garros final against Rafael Nadal, he had nothing else left in the tank after wasting his chances in the second!

Playing in his first Major quarterfinal, Hubert took a break at 3-2 and closed the opener with an unreturned serve in game nine in less than half an hour. Federer raised the bar on him in the second set to build a 4-1 lead before Hurkacz regained the break in the seventh game.

Roger didn't play well in the tie break, struggling with his footwork and losing when Hubert shot two winners at 5-4. In one of his worst sets at Wimbledon and in a career overall, Federer took just 15 points in the third set to experience a zero and hit the starting gate in the worst possible way, unable to keep up with the rival and leaving the court disappointed.

"I thought I had a decent chance heading into the Hubert game. I felt that if I could protect my serve, I would get second serve chances from him and set rallies however I wanted."

Krueger on Roger Federer

World No. 195 Mitchell Krueger, who lost in the opening round at Newport, pointed out how three players winning 20 Grand Slams each is not a scenario many had envisioned after Pete Sampras retired with 14 Majors.

"If you asked me back when Sampras retired, 'Would anyone beat 14?' I think pretty much everyone would say that would never happen," said Krueger. "And now you have three guys at 20. If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said 100% (Roger Federer) — no doubt in my mind," Krueger added.

"But you can’t really argue with the numbers (of Novak Djokovic) and the facts." According to Krueger, Nadal is the best on clay and Federer on grass, while Djokovic excels on all surfaces. “It’s so hard to say, because on clay I’d still say Rafa is the best player, and I would still say on grass Fed … Fed in his prime," Krueger said. "And then you have Djokovic, who is basically all-surface."