Swiss maestro Roger Federer was knocked out of Wimbledon in the men’s singles quarter-finals event on Wednesday. His defeat came at the hands of Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. This could potentially mean that this is the end of his All England Club career.
The 20-time Grand Slam title winner, who will celebrate his 40th birthday next month lost 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 to a player 15 years his junior.
This marked only the 8th time Wimbledon champion‘s 14th defeat at the tournament in 119 matches and his first straight-sets loss since an opening-round exit against Mario Ancic in 2002.
It was also the first time he had lost a set 6-0 at Wimbledon.
“It’s super special to have played Roger here, it’s a dream come true. He’s done so many special things here,”said Hurkacz
World number 18 Hurkacz, 24, had never got beyond the third round of a Grand Slam before this Wimbledon.
However, boosted by having defeated world number two Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the last 16, he was a break up on a sluggish-looking Federer in the sixth game of the opening set.
In the second set, Federer, who underwent two knee surgeries in 2020, carved out a break for 2-0 in the second set.
However, he failed to maintain the lead as Hurkacz levelled in the seventh game from 1-4 down. He then went on to dominate the tiebreak.
Federer looked slow as he was quickly down 0-2 in the third set before Hurkacz wrapped up the decider in just 29 minutes.
He is only the second Polish man to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon — Jerzy Janowicz being the other in 2013.
“I noticed the mis-hits, awkward looking points from Roger and obviously the last set of course, 6-0,” said former champion Boris Becker commentating on Federer’s performance.
“He would never ever say if there was a niggle, but I don’t know if we will ever see the great man again here.”