Roger Federer surprised to still be top seed at Wimbledon at 36

Shahida Jacobs
July 10, 2018

Roger Federer admits he is amazed that he is still one of the best players in the world at the age of 36.

Federer has enjoyed a career resurgence in the last two years, winning three of the six Grand Slams with his long-time rival Rafael Nadal winning the other three.

He also became the oldest person to be ranked No 1 in the world when he returned to the top of the rankings in February this year.

A few months later and he finds himself as the top seed at Wimbledon, where he is looking to win a ninth title.

“I told my team the other day that for me, after all these years, it is surprising to be No 1 seed, in the top two in the rankings at 36. I didn’t think that was ever going to happen, to be honest,” he said after his last-16 encounter against Adrian Mannarino.

The match against the Frenchman was “almost too easy” he admitted as he baggled Mannarino in the first set and then eased over the 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 win.

“That has been the surprise for me, that sometimes there is a set like this against a player who is not the biggest server, it can happen,” the 20-time Grand Slam winner said.

“Then he showed that he is top 30 after all, he played two good sets after that. I think it’s a tough match-up for him maybe against me. I’m not sure. But, sure, I was also surprised it was that fast, that first set, especially 16 minutes, like you said. That was too fast. It shouldn’t really happen, but thankfully they do for me. I probably won’t have another 6-0 set this week, so I’ll enjoy this one.

He added: “Look, he also was able to raise his level of play, then I had to do the same again because the first was almost too easy. Even though I played very well, I was not going to be able to just sustain it like this. I had to adjust my game because he also played at a higher level.”

Roger Federer