Roger Federer explains why he missed Andy Murray’s Wimbledon farewell – ‘He was there for my retirement’

Roger Federer has revealed that he saw Andy Murray shortly before the Brit’s men’s doubles match alongside his brother Jamie Murray, but he couldn’t stay for his fellow great’s Wimbledon goodbye party on Centre Court due to “obligations”.

Two-time singles champion Murray’s final Wimbledon appearance has not gone according to plan as he was first forced to withdraw from the singles as he hadn’t recovered sufficiently from surgery and he and Jamie then lost their first-round encounter on Thursday.

After bowing out of the doubles, former world No 1 Andy was honoured during a Centre Court ceremony and the greatest of the greats – including Federer – paid tribute in a video that was showed on the big screen.

The likes of Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova also made their way to court to attend the event while the legendary Sue Barker came out of broadcasting retirement to do the interviews.

There were rumours that Federer would attend the match and post-match celebrations, but he was nowhere to be seen.

However, the 20-time Grand Slam winner has confirmed that he did see Murray before the match, but a clash in schedule meant he couldn’t stay for the farewell ceremony.

“I wish I could’ve been there last night, but I already had obligations because I didn’t know exactly how it was all going to play out,” he said.

“I took an earlier flight on Tuesday to be here in case he played his singles and, as I boarded the flight, there was, ‘Andy’s not playing singles’. I was on standby, then unfortunately last night I couldn’t be there.

“I quickly went to see him before the match and I could see Andy was extremely nervous. Obviously Wimbledon means so much to him and his family and his team. I watched all the highlights. Amazing for him.

“He was there for my retirement at the Laver Cup at the O2 and I was so happy that he was around.

“I hope I get to see Andy, and what an incredible career. I loved played against him, even though he beat me probably 20 times. He’s been terrific, and of course it had to be emotional yesterday [Thursday].”

Murray’s Wimbledon career is not quite over yet as he will play mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu on Saturday and Federer has hinted that he could attend.

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