Roger Federer has been inducted into the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame, describing the second as "one of many biggest honours" of his life.
The 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, who retired in 2022, was tearful on the ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, as he mirrored on his glittering profession in entrance of tennis greats together with Billie Jean King and John McEnroe.
After make his debut in 1998 on the age of 16, Federer received a males's-record eight Wimbledon titles, six Australian Open crowns, 5 US Opens and one French Open.
"This is without doubt one of the biggest honors of my life," Federer, 45, stated.
"They name this the Corridor of Fame, however fame was by no means the purpose. My purpose was to spend my life doing one thing I really like, with individuals who like it as a lot as I do."
Solely Spain's Rafael Nadal, with 22 majors, and Serbia's Novak Djokovic, with 24, have received extra males's Grand Slam singles titles than Federer.
He received his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003 and spent 310 weeks because the world primary – a document till he was surpassed by Djokovic.
Alongside his 20 Grand Slams, Federer received Olympic doubles gold for Switzerland with Stan Wawrinka at Beijing 2008 and singles silver at London 2012.
He was additionally a part of the Swiss crew that received the Davis Cup for the primary time in 2014.
Federer, who began out as a 13-year-old ball boy at an ATP event in Basle, mirrored on the lesser-known statistics from his profession throughout his speech.
"I'm speaking in regards to the numbers that actually paint an image. Between 1998 and once I first went on the ATP Tour, and once I retired in 2022, I wore greater than 5,000 headbands," stated Federer.
"That's greater than [Bjorn] Borg and [John] McEnroe mixed.
"And should you assume that's spectacular, I wore in all probability over 7,000 pairs of socks. That's in all probability twice as many as most of my opponents, as a result of I doubled them up.
"However actually, there's no strategy to measure what it means to be right here. It's laborious to place it into phrases."
Federer wiped away tears as he thanked his spouse Mirka, tennis idol Stefan Edberg and "each ball child who ever stood by" his matches.
Federer additionally stated he was "extremely fortunate" to have performed with totally different generations of tennis gamers, from Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt to Andy Roddick, Nadal and Djokovic.
"I would like tissues and sun shades and all the things to guard me proper now. That is such a multitude," Federer joked.
"As you’ll be able to inform, I'm nonetheless writing my love letter to tennis. My time as a participant is completed, however tennis will at all times stand on the intersection of all the things I care most about: my household, our friendships, the previous 40 years, the longer term we're constructing.
"Tennis for me is chargeable for all of it."
- n
- r
- l
