They say life begins at 40 but in the case of Roger Federer, who reaches that milestone on 8 August, he’s already had one of the greatest careers in tennis history. Going into the 2021 season, the Swiss superstar shared the all-time record of most men’s Grand Slam singles titles with contemporary and long-time rival Rafael Nadal.
In recent years, Federer has had the intelligence to know – and this must be difficult for any sportsperson to admit – that he cannot beat the King of Clay at Roland Garros, nor can anyone else for that matter. Instead, it has been wiser and kinder on a body which inevitably has wear and tears on it to skip the French Open.
Federer has missed four of the last five clay court Grand Slams, reaching the semis on his last appearance in Paris in 2019 when beaten in straight sets by Spain’s sublime surface specialist Nadal. In sidestepping the French Open, however, he has reduced his opportunities to add to his incredible haul of majors. After all, there are only four of them a year.
Hard as this may be to believe, but it has been three years since Federer won his 20th Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open. He misses this year’s opening major Down Under in Melbourne as he continues to recover from knee surgery, however, so the wait will go on.
If following a similar pattern to recent seasons, then we may not see Federer turn up at Roland Garros either. That explains odds of 16/1 for the 2021 French Open, whilst clay court maestro Nadal is 6/5 favourite to take their 14th title in Paris.
Federer will like as not be saving himself for and aiming at Wimbledon. He got to the final of the grass Grand Slam when it was last held in 2019 and, if the tennis betting on The Championships at SW19 is anything to go by, it represents a better opening for him.
Like all the greats, when Federer is on that surface, he looks effortless in the way that he plays. Odds of 9/1 for Wimbledon 2021 to secure what would be a record-extending ninth Grand Slam in London have a certain symmetry to them.
Throughout an era for men’s elite tennis dominated by Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic, we have all been waiting for a new generation to come through and challenge them. Those with younger legs and greater scope to get better just haven’t been able to find what is required to turn the old guard out yet though.
This explains why Federer is only 8/1 for the US Open at Flushing Meadows after his 40th birthday, despite the fact he last won the last of his five consecutive Slams in New York way back in 2008. It’s obvious that he’s nearer the end of his career than the beginning with fewer games of tennis in front of him than behind, but to win a major at this stage when he quite possibly may not hold the record any longer would be remarkable.
