Roger Federer said on Sunday he hopes to play Wimbledon “one more time” despite being ruled out for a year with a knee injury.
“I hope I can come back one more time. I’ve missed it here,” said the eight-time champion as he attended a special ceremony marking Center Court’s 100th anniversary.
The 40-year-old winner of 20 Grand Slam titles has been out of action since a quarter-final loss at the tournament in 2021 before another bout of knee surgery.
He plans to return to the Laver Cup in London in September and then take part in his home tournament in Basel.
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“I knew last year going out here was going to be a tough year,” said Federer, who received a standing ovation as he entered the court.
“I probably didn’t think it would take that long to come back — the knee has gone rough on me.”
Federer, in a dark suit, established as a permanent feature from this year, was one of the hosts of the Wimbledon champions in the ceremony ahead of the match schedule on mid-Sunday.
The Swiss star won his first of eight titles two years later with his famous win over Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of matches on this court,” he said.
“It feels weird to be here in a different kind of role today but it is great to be here with all the other champions.
“This court has given me my greatest victory and my greatest defeat.”
Federer joins two men responsible for some of those highs and lows at the ceremony – six-time champion Novak Djokovic and two-time winner Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic defeated Federer in the 2019 final, which was the longest five sets ever in the tournament and lasted nearly five hours.
“I feel more nervous now when I’m playing,” said Djokovic, who returned to center court on Sunday for his last-16 match against Tim van Rijnthoven.
“This court has been really special since my childhood and the first image I saw of tennis was when I was four or five years old, I saw Pete Sampras win his first Wimbledon.
“This is where dreams come true and I had the privilege of winning the tournament in 2011, which was probably the highlight of my career and that is why I relive these memories when I step on this court. Truly an honor.”
Other past champions included Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Petra Kvitova, Martina Hingis, Chris Evert and Venus Williams.
Men’s winners included John McEnroe, Björn Borg, Chris Evert, Andy Murray and Goran Ivancevic.
However, nine-time champion Martina Navratilova could not attend the parade due to testing positive for COVID-19.
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