Despite looking strong in his first three matches at the 2021 French Open, the great Roger Federer decided to withdraw from the tournament before playing his fourth-round match against Matteo Berrettini of Italy. His withdrawal is generating global criticism because Federer is clearly putting more emphasis on winning Wimbledon than he is the French Open in 2021.
Federer stated on the weekend that it was important to listen to his body, and “not rush back into competition” according to Sam Goodwin of Yahoo! Sports. Ok. We get that. We know Federer has had knee surgeries over the last year. We also know he is 39 years of age and turning 40 as the possible 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo are coming to an end. But he was not dealing with any noticeable injury at Roland Garros, so if he did not intend to complete the tournament, why not do what Nick Kyrgios and Vasek Pospisil did, and that is pull out before the tournament started?
The withdrawal does not necessarily look good. Among his critics over the last couple of days have been John and Patrick McEnroe. Patrick did not like the move, while John believed Federer should have defaulted earlier, and before he reached match point in his third-round match against Dominik Koepfer of Germany.
I understand Federer wanted to get some matches in before Wimbledon. I even understand that he wanted to get some five-set matches in at the French Open, which he would not have been able to do at the other Wimbledon tuneups on grass. But Federer would have been better off competing in his fourth-round match at Roland Garros and given an effort against Berrettini. Tennis fans deserved it, and were robbed of watching three hours of greatness. Wimbledon does not start for another three weeks, and in the meantime, many experts and fans are left surprised.
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