WIMBLEDON great Roger Federer hopes his old rival Andy Murray will have great success in what could be his last appearance at the biggest tennis tournament in the world.
Two-time winner Murray, 36, continues to play with a metal hip. Though he admitted earlier this week he has a retirement date in mind, he assured fans it wasn’t going to come at this year’s Wimbledon.
“Andy is a special man and I’m very happy he’s still able to play. He loves it,” said Federer during a visit to London.
“He truly loves it. With all the complications he’s had with his hip, it’s amazing to see that he’s still going.
“I think we all should give him like a proper sort of round of applause, because what he’s going through and what he’s achieving with what he’s gone through is incredible.
“Funny enough, he just won a Challenger, in Surbiton. I played that back in 1999, lost in the semis.
“And he won the same week as Novak [Djokovic] got to this incredible record of 23 Slams, that also deserves so much respect.
“So I’m a big fan of Andy’s as well and I wish him all the best for Wimbledon as that is his best surface in my mind, especially nowadays. So I hope he wins many, many rounds at Wimbledon.
” Murray hopes his experience of winning tournaments on grass will help him against some of the top players at the tournament.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said when asked if his grass court history will work in his favour. “Obviously grass, there are fewer players that are probably comfortable on the surface than clay and hard courts.
“Some of the seeded players are maybe not that comfortable on the grass, so there’s some draws that are better than others.”
