Roger Federer is in no mood to hang up his boots and sees himself playing for many more years to come. He was defeated by Sergiy Stakhovsky on Wednesday in the second round match of Wimbledon which just shocked his fans all across the world.
Seven-time Wimbledon champion was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, “I am not going into a panic mode after this unforeseen outcome. May be I became the victim of the turnaround that was happening throughout the day.” With this defeat curtains were brought down on his run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final appearances, which started at Wimbledon 2004.
Questions has been raised time and again on all-conquering powers of Federer but that doesn’t have much of effect on him as he is looking forward to get back on the winning track. He was quoted by Indian Express saying, "I still have plans to play for many more years to come. It's normal that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36 times, people feel it's different. I wish it wasn't going to end here. But I don't think that's something fans are going to mourn. It's a great number. I can be proud of it. But I'm moving on."
Federer plans to use his unscheduled time off to recharge and focus on the rest of the season. “I need to bounce back in a much stronger way. I'm looking forward to what's to come. I hope I can play a good end to the season. This is a setback, a disappointment, whatever you want to call it. But then overall I think I played great eight months ago at the World Tour Finals, I played great at the Australian Open," he said.
He went on to say, "I didn't play so much as of late. At the same time that gives me more flexibility with my schedule moving forward and next year as well. I have more options now than I did have one year ago when I was running around trying to chase down every possible tournament and every point to get back to world number one.
"Overall I think I've been playing actually not so bad, like some have portrayed it. Season's not over here. Only just in the middle. Still have a lot of tennis left," he added.
Federer was happy of the fact that the “top-four” are facing some very tough competition which is actually really good for the game. He was quoted by DNA saying, "I think there was a time where some players didn't believe they could beat the top guys. So maybe there's a little bit of a thing happening at the moment. I'm happy about that, that players believe they can beat the best on the biggest courts in the biggest matches.”
He added, "I think it's very important, that belief. We're missing the teenagers overall, so it's up to other guys to do it like we've seen this week, at other places as well. All we can do is give it all we have, be a professional, train hard, do all the right things, what you're supposed to be doing.
He concluded by saying, "I'm looking forward to playing hopefully injury free for the rest of the season, then we'll go from there."