Coronavirus has paralyzed the whole world, including sports. Since the beginning of this year, sports officials were forced to undertake all the measures possible to prevent the spreading of this deadly virus, in sports events.
As the pandemic grew, the measures also had to drastically grow, resulting in delay or cancellation of most great sports events and competitions. However, when the summer came, and the situation started improving a little bit, some of these tournaments have managed to take place, but of course under different circumstances. The biggest events, such as the Olympic games, had to be postponed.
As for the tennis tournaments, what shook the players and all the passionate tennis followers was the news of the cancellation of 134th Wimbledon. This is the second time ever, that this tournament was canceled. It happened only one time before, after the Second World War. For more daily sports news and highlights, visit parimatchnews.
Another shock that came at the same time as the covid-19 pandemic, for the tennis lovers, of course, was the unexpected two surgeries a swiss tennis player Roger Federer had to undergo. This meant that one of the best players the world has ever seen had to skip the tournament for the whole season. He was forced to have his first surgery on his right knee, right after the Australian open was finished. At the time nobody knew how the situation was to be developed, but it was quite sure that he would miss out on all the competitions during the year, on slag and grass.
The situation got even more complicated when his coach had to announce to the media that his recovery isn’t going as it was expected and announced another surgery. The Swiss player, who is currently holding to the fourth place on the list of the best players on the planet, has spent the rest of the year without taking part in competitions. For a professional player, this means the comeback might be very hard to achieve. We remind you that the only official tournament he played this year, the Australian Open, he lost to his long-time opponent Novak Djokovic.
Taking a break until January next year will mean this record holder for the number of Grand Slam trophies won, will be out of the game for the longest period in his career.
Although many who are following the game say that this break might be interpreted as an announcement of the retirement and end of his career, he claims otherwise. The swiss have stated determinately that he will be ready for the Australian Open next year, and that he’s not planning to retire yet.
Since he turned 39 in August this year, he aims to win one more Wimbledon trophy and to take part in the Tokyo Olympic games, that were postponed due to the virus pandemic.
Some of his older colleagues that were once successful in the game claim that Federer being this age will have difficulties retrieving the top form he once had.
Not wanting to cut him off completely, but the facts show that this break will have a huge impact on his career.
The chances are Federer might face something he never did in 20 years of his game. First of all, if he continues playing at the next Australian Open, he most probably will not be the winner, since he played minimally this season.
Since 2001, the second time he took part in the tournament, he was always one of the carriers. At the time he was in 29th place on the ATP list.
After this, he managed to win a trophy in 6 of the Melbourne grand slams (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017. and 2018.). Being his age and still playing is not something new in this game, many older followers would say, but the fact that the game today is much more aggressive and physically demanding means that taking a break-even with 25 or 26 can also result in a difficult return.
Federer, on the other hand, is known to be skillful in maintaining his top form, despite his age, and he keeps claiming he will once again be on top and fit for the next season start. Watching him trying to attain this will be more than interesting, giving the fact that he hasn’t been training for a while.
The desire to make one additional good score in the sunset of his career, after winning a gold Olympic medal in double, in Beijing (2008) with Wawrinka is what he is striving for. But for now, the most important thing is to get well and back in shape.
To achieve this, he has retreated to the Swiss mountains to find peace, and a perfect oasis in these turbulent times of pandemic. Away from the panicking of the people in cities, he can contemplate on what is the most important thing in life. Surrounding himself with friends and family is his way of accumulating strength for future professional challenges.
Will he be able to recover enough to join and be successful in the upcoming tournament, it remains to be seen. However, the new development of the already complicated situation with the virus pandemic and how it will affect tennis in the future is highly unpredictable.
So far, what we know is that the Australian Open has published the official announcement saying they will organize the 2024 tournament. The organizers said that there will be significant changes in the tournament, for safety reasons. Because of the measures of social distancing, the number of people in the audience will have to be decreased, while all the others watching from the Melbourne park will have to in some kind of a biological balloon.
To the disappointment of many who are used to travel to Australia at this time of year, the tournament will only be open for those who reside on this continent. All the participants will also be tested for covid-19 upon their arrival and remain isolated in their accommodation.
