The former Swedish tennis player Mats Wilander has been one of the last voices to pronounce on the surprising withdrawal of Roger Federer from Roland Garros after winning his first three matches at the Paris tournament.
Wilander, who is commenting on the tournament on Eurosport, He gave an interview to the Punto de Break portal in which he reviewed how the Swiss performance has been in the tournament. “In his matches he has served very well. In Paris he did not need the serve so much but he will need it at Wimbledon. But he didI was impressed by the fact that he played until midnight, without an audience and against a covered opponent. He knew that if it was a long game he might not play the next day, but he needed to win that game. People still haven't realized that Federer has that fire inside him. “
The Swede believes that Federer will make a great performance at Wimbledon after the level shown at Roland Garros. “There are not too many grass specialists and many tennis players have no idea how to play there. Roger is a specialist and I can think of 5 or 6 players who could put him in trouble, but no more. At Roland Garros about 40 tennis players could have hurt him, at Wimbledon not. “
Wilander also wanted to give his opinion on Federer's retirement after his match against Koepfer … and the possibility of facing Djokovic in the quarter-finals. “I would not have retired, I would have had more options at Roland Garros, not at Wimbledon. I think he made a good decision even if he had options with Berrettini. But then he would have met Djokovic and he could have beaten him hard, and Federer did not want that before Wimbledon. He came to Roland Garros to play games and won more than he bargained for. Federer needed wins and what he did is fine with me. “