Boris Becker: 'Roger Federer would have had a chance at Wimbledon'

Boris Becker wrote tennis history back in 1985, winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 and returning to the All England Club a year later to defend his title and produce an even more significant achievement. The German lost in the finals to Stefan Edberg in 1988 and 1990, beating the Swede in the year between to lift the third and last crown at the most prestigious tennis event. One kid from Switzerland was enjoying their battles in the cathedral of tennis, making his first tennis steps in those years and dreaming about playing at Wimbledon as well one day. That boy was Roger Federer who would become the junior champion at the All England Club in 1998, making a professional debut a year later and lifting the first Major trophy there in 2003.

Destined for Wimbledon glory, Federer has been the player to beat for almost two decades at this tournament, becoming the only player with 100 Wimbledon victories and lifting eight crowns so far, four in a row between 2003-07. Because of a coronavirus, Wimbledon will close its gates for the first time since 1945, unable to host it later in the calendar due to a specific surface and preparing everything to host the best players in the world in 2021. Boris Becker, like many others, believes Roger Federer would be among the favorites for the title in Wimbledon was held this July, playing well for years at the beloved Majors and finishing runner-up in that thrilling final a year ago when he wasted two match points against Novak Djokovic in the title match.

Just before the 40th birthday, Federer is ready to embrace Halle and Wimbledon next spring again, hoping to revive his grass-court magic and maybe make one final push towards the 21st Major crown that would still keep him ahead of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the GOAT race. Roger's last Wimbledon title came in 2017 when he toppled all seven rivals without losing a set, achieving that feat for the first time in a career. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2W1t12H