What's it like to be a Roger Federer fan now?

FLASHBACK: Roger Federer's 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinal press conference

Wimbledon is full of traditions. One of the lesser-known among them happens on the weekend before the tournament begins, when the practice courts at the All England Club become the site of a mad scramble for whatever tiny piece of real estate is available. For much of the day, players hustle onto the grass and are hustled off of it an hour later. For those precious 60 minutes, often four to a court, they try to hit as many balls on the strange and slippery surface as they can before they have to do it in front of the world. From the viewing areas above, the sport’s satellite members—writers, agents, officials, coaches, physios, significant others—trade gossip and gauge the contenders’ form.

For most of this century, the player at the center of that scramble has been Roger Federer. Everyone on the grounds kept at least one eye on the Maestro as he took his final warmup swings. Federer wasn’t famous for the intensity of his on-site practices; he already knew his way around a grass court. But if you looked the other way, you might miss the sight of him inventing an entirely new shot.

One year, a decade or so ago, Federer came out with Ivan Ljubicic, when Ljubicic was still his fellow player, rather than his coach. Federer stood in the forecourt to hit volleys. With each Ljubicic pass, he moved a few steps forward. By the end of the rally, Federer was close enough to reach over and take the ball on other side of the net. So that’s what he did. Somehow he volleyed the ball backwards, deflecting it down into Ljubicic’s side of the net, before it could touch the ground. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player’s hands work so quickly. While the shot may technically be illegal, I’ve hoped ever since to see him try it in a match.

Unfortunately, we won’t see Federer hit his other-side-of-the-net volley, or anything else, at Wimbledon this year. His supporters will have to make do with his appearance in the cavalcade of champions on Centre Court on Sunday, and take heart from his speech, where he said he hopes to play on that court next year.

Otherwise, though, the man who has been at the center of this tournament, and the sport as a whole, for more than 20 years has been absent in 2022. Absent—but not quite gone. Last month Federer announced that his recovery from knee surgery is proceeding on schedule, and he’s targeting a return at two fall events that are virtually synonymous with his name, Laver Cup and Basel.

All in all, that makes it an odd time to be a Federer fan. He’s 40 and hasn’t played for a year; but he isn’t retired, either. Which means we haven’t been able to sum up his record-breaking accomplishments or wax nostalgic over the gracefulness of his game yet. We can’t put his career in perspective until we know how it ends.

He also hasn’t had the final hurrah or farewell tour that are standard for athletes of his stature. The pandemic and a pair of knee surgeries have essentially kept him off the tour since January 2020. A player who was famously healthy has seen injuries rob him of his well-earned send-off, and the standing ovations and teary tributes that were sure to come with it.

Instead, Federer’s rivals, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, have spent the last two years breaking his records. In 2021, Djokovic passed him for the most weeks at No. 1 and tied him with 20 major titles. In 2022, Nadal has won his 21st and 22nd Slams. All Federer can do is send his congratulations, and reassure us that he’s not done yet. All we can do is try to remember what it was like to see him play, to see him up on the ball of his right foot, at full height, snapping off a crosscourt backhand winner.

For a long time I assumed that when Federer retired, all we would do was reminisce about his vintage moments, and criticize the next generation for not playing the game the way he did. That might still happen, especially after Nadal and Djokovic follow him into the sunset. For now, though, his temporary absence has been a reminder that even the most extraordinary athletes can begin to fade from our thoughts once they’ve left our TV sets. As Federer himself says, the sport really is bigger than any of its individual stars—even one who shines as brightly as he does.

How do his fans feel about this moment? Some I know wish he would have left well enough alone and retired after his quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon last year. Others think he’ll hang up his racquets in Basel. Others are searching in vain for a player who will be must-see TV for them, the way Federer was for so long. Some still have faith that, even at 41, he can give them one final round of brilliance to remember him by in 2023.

“I was talking to someone at a party who asked me if I was worried that he would retire after Basel,” says Michele Drohan, a New York tennis player and Fed fan who sports an RF tattoo on her arm. “I said, ‘No, that doesn’t sound like him.’ I think he knows his importance to tennis, and he’ll give his fans around the world a chance to see him again next year.”

“He has to play at least one more Wimbledon,” she continues. “The last one was too anti-climactic. That moment when [Andre] Agassi cried after his last match at the US Open, I think Fed wants to do the exact same thing, and make that speech. Stopping in Basel just doesn’t align with who he is.”

As far as replacements go, Drohan enjoys watching Daniil Medvedev play, and the fact that “he’s a little bit of a villain.” Like the rest of us, she got caught up in Alcaraz-mania this spring. But she also finds herself rooting for Federer’s old antagonist, Nadal.

“I hated when he beat Fed in their big matches, when he was the nemesis,” she says of Nadal. “I was like, ‘This guy!’ But once you decide to root for him, you appreciate his effort, and what other people see in him. I think what he’s doing this year is really good for tennis.”

She also likes what Nadal is doing for her as a Federer fan.

“It really feels like this miracle,” she says, “and makes it seem possible for Fed, too.

“I’m not ready for Fed to go.”

Federer’s career has been about records and numbers, but perhaps more than any other player, his legend lies in the way he swings a racquet and glides around a court. It’s hard to imagine that anyone is going to better him in those departments any time soon. Nadal and Djokovic will likely keep the records; it should be enough to see Federer play the sport again, for as long as he can.