After Roger Federer lost the Gold Medal Match in embarrassing fashion to Andy Murray 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, the inevitable happened. It seemed like every so-called "expert" questioned whether or not Roger Federer was fading into oblivion. I am here to stop this from happening, he does not deserve to be treated like this.
The world knew that Roger Federer was going to be special from the second he stepped on the court. He won his first major championship in 2003 at the sacred ground of the All England Club at the age of 21. He has won, with the exception of a singles gold, almost every tournament one can ask to win. He won four major championships by the end 2004! This guy deserves more than these retirement questions.
By the time the French Open rolled around in 2010, Roger Federer had won 16 major championships, at this rate, Roger Federer seemed invincible. 25 majors was seemingly within reach! With the way the media portrayed Federer, he could be 50 years old and still winning majors. So the decline in his game was even more shocking.
From after the Australian Open 2010 to before he won 2012 Wimbledon, Federer failed to win one major. He went from this heralded superstar, to an old man. Many thought that this "shocking" decline meant Federer was "too old" to win a major again. Why do we doubt Federer's age?
At 2012 Wimbledon, Federer saw it all. He went from the Second Round beating Fabio Fognini with three straight 6-1s to being down 2 sets to love to Julien Benneteau, but winning anways. It doesn't matter if Federer is 20 or 30, no situation is too great for Roger Federer.
During the Final, down a set, no worries, he won three straight sets to win the major championship. Did we hear any questions about Federer's age then? No, it was almost like he became the favorite for every major for the next couple of years with the praise he was receiving. But, as we later found out, those questions were lurking.
Even though he won the silver medal at the London Olympics, experts and fans alike were upset with the way he played during the finals against Andy Murray. What do you think started again? Yes, the age questions. Even though a few weeks earlier he had beaten the same person to win Wimbledon, he was all of the sudden "old" again. Nobody "old" wins seven straight best-of-five matches, including against two of the top four players in the world.
The old questions have now resurfaced after Roger Federer's loss to Andy Murray in the Olympic tennis finals, but as we have learned, age should not be a question for him.
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