LONDON: Six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer believes he is still a Grand Slam contender despite suffering a second successive quarterfinal loss at the All England Club.
The former world number one slumped to a dramatic 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday, shattering his hopes of equalling Pete Sampras’s record of seven Wimbledon titles for another year.
But even with his 30th birthday approaching in August, Federer is adamant he can add to his Grand Slam collection of 16, the last of which came at the Australian Open in 2010.
“I think I definitely can, yes. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t the case,” said the Swiss.
“I think I’m playing well. I thought my game was plenty good enough this year to win the tournament. Unfortunately there’s only one that can win it, and the rest go home empty-handed.
“I’m healthy. Even though I took a tough loss today, I don’t feel discouraged in any way. I’ll work harder than ever and hopefully come back extremely strong for Davis Cup next week and then the American summer again.”
Wednesday’s defeat was the first time Federer had lost a Grand Slam match from being two sets to love up.
He previously boasted a 178-0 Grand Slam win-loss record when winning the first two sets.
His only defeats from two sets to love up had come against Lleyton Hewitt in the 2003 Davis Cup final and in the 2005 Masters Cup in Shanghai against David Nalbandian.