Roger Federer announces his retirement from the ATP Tour and grand slams
By Ben Rotkin, CNN
updated 2 p.m. ET
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (CNN) — Roger Federer’s tennis career is ending, he announced, and he’ll be retiring from all Grand Slam tournaments.
The Swiss great, who had reached a career-high world ranking of No. 3 in 2010, was on record Tuesday as saying he is retiring on his own terms, ending a career that has been interrupted by three knee operations since 2006.
“I can’t speak for what happens after January 1, but that I will continue playing,” Federer said.
It is Federer’s first set of public comments since he withdrew from the U.S. Open and Australian Open on a day of intense speculation surrounding his future in tennis.
“We have tried all the means we can to get the best result for the player. We have been working through the issues we have been facing with him over the last two years as a team,” said Andy Murray, with whom Federer won the 2009 Australian Open and 2010 Wimbledon.
“From day one, he was not happy in his career, and we have tried everything we could to try and have a positive outcome for him. Today is the day that we are ending it.”
Fellow Grand Slam champion Andy Roddick said Federer “has decided to retire, probably for the sake of his legacy” and that he has not considered his tennis future to be affected by the news.
“I believe him,” said Roddick, who called Federer “a truly great tennis player” and “a true champion.”
Federer, who turns 39 on Jan. 1, is the second-longest career Grand Slam men’s singles champion of all time, behind Jimmy Connors at 22 Grand Slam titles. Federer won the Australian Open in 2003 and Wimbledon in 2005, making him the third-longest career men’s singles champion of all-time, trailing Connors and Pete Sampras.
Federer, who retired in 2010 after losing in the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, had been expected to take part in the Australian Open in January, but he has had his world ranking downgraded this year, falling to world No. 47 after his last-round loss to David Ferrer in Australia.
