Roger Federer was graceful in play and gracious in defeat

Well, it had to happen. But then, in a sense, it already had. We hadn’t seen Roger Federer play since he was beaten easily by Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon in 2021. After that he announced that he was having surgery on his troublesome knee and taking the rest of the season off. This was followed by further surgery and a longer period of rehab. So, whereas Serena Williams went out in a blaze of announced glory at this year’s US Open, Roger’s retirement has taken the form of perpetual postponement.

His unsurpassable haul of 20 Grand Slams was surpassed, first by Rafael Nadal and then by Novak Djokovic, but still the official word was that he would be back. Was so much invested in him that the belief of a return had to be kept alive, even when it came to seem increasingly unlikely? The eschatological and the financial had become hard to disentangle. Still, we wanted a chance to show our love at Wimbledon next year, something ceremonial instead of this slow and invisible fade.

We can itemise the elements of Federer’s appeal in ascending order of importance. He played quickly. Watching Nadal has become an ordeal, with those interminable rituals between points; for Federer, a couple of bounces of the ball and he was ready. He was uncompromisingly aggressive, the opposite of a grinder, always trying to win points.

He was also the most graceful player of all time – Baryshnikov in sneakers, as the brothers McEnroe put it. His play was often described as effortless, but seeing him up close and in the flesh you were conscious of how hard he had to work to produce that illusion of ease. The single most beautiful component of his play was the one-handed backhand. He and Richard Gasquet saved the one-hander from extinction to the extent