Tennis has always been considered as one of the most physically demanding and competitive sport of the modern era. One has to outshine thousand other counterparts to reach the top. If reaching the top spot was considered an uphill task, retaining that hard earned spot is even more difficult as a new set of players’ crop up every other day. With this being said there are times when even the once considered as all-time great can be seen losing a match tamely to an underdog.
Be it a male or female competitor with age their form tends to drop, the time to recover from injuries sustained takes longer than expected. Making a comeback at tour level after an injury layoff has never been a walk in the park. But in recent times Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have proved their critics wrong by making a strong comeback and regaining their lost glory. Let us take a look at these comeback stars one has to watch out for at Wimbledon this time around.
Roger Federer (18-time Grand Slam Champion)
Age: 35
Wimbledon first round opponent: Alexandr Dolgopolov
Having been the world number one for 302 weeks and a holder of record seven Wimbledon Grand Slams, every time the 'Swiss Master' steps onto the tennis court one expects him to win the battle. That has been the case since 2003 when Roger Federer laid hands on his first Grand Slam after a comprehensive 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win over Mark Philippoussis at the All England Club. With that win, the era of Federer began and what followed the next 10 years was complete dominance at the ATP tour.
But 2013 was a year to forget for Federer as he failed to win a single Grand Slam for the first time since his maiden title in 2003. Especially 2013 Wimbledon turned out to be a disastrous one for defending champ Federer who was sent home packing in the second round by the 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky.
In the following months, Federer was plagued with back injuries resulting in early round exits. Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray completely capitalised on Federer's downfall and went on to consolidate their position as top stars. Despite taking the best of efforts Federer fell short and ended up on the runners-up side at Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015 as well as at US Open 2015.
In 2016, Federer had an impressive run at the Australian Open making it to the last four, but he choose to skip the French Open. After his loss to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semis Federer announced his break from tour for the rest of the season as result of a knee injury. This eventually resulted in Federer dropping out of the top 10 ranking for the first time since 2002. The year 2016 also happened to be the season where the 'Swiss Master' went title-less for the first time since 2000.
But as the saying goes form is temporary, class is permanent, Federer proved it to be true in 2017 when he returned back from injury to lift his 18th Grand Slam at Australian Open after beating his long-time rival Rafael Nadal in an epic final. He went on to win back-to-back Masters title at Indian Wells and Miami before making an interesting decision to skip French Open yet again. Despite an early round loss to veteran Tommy Haas at Stuttgart Open, Federer bounced back to win the Halle Open which also happens to be his 92nd career singles title.
The expectations on Federer are rocket high after his recent success and the fans will definitely back him to go for a record eighth Wimbledon title.
Rafael Nadal (15-time Grand Slam Champion)
Age: 31
Wimbledon first round opponent: John Millman
If there is anyone on ATP tour who has been prone to injuries, Rafa would definitely top that list. But what makes him a legend is the fact that every time he is sidelined by an injury he has come back stronger. 'The King of Clay' as fondly called by the fans and critics alike, Rafael Nadal was named one of the favorites to win the Wimbledon in 2014, especially after notching his ninth French Open just a month ago. But to the surprise of everyone Nadal was slayed in the fourth round by then 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios who was ranked 143 places behind him.
After the Wimbledon loss, Rafa withdrew from the US Open where he was supposed to defend the title. But his misery did not end there as he was diagnosed with appendicitis for which he had to undergo a surgery, forcing him to skip the rest of the season. After the successful appendix surgery in November he returned back to tour in 2015 which turned out to be a forgettable year for the former world number one who managed to win just three titles that year (Argentina Open, Stuttgart Open and German Open). 2015 also marks the year where Nadal ended the season without winning a single major for the first time since lifting his maiden Grand Slam in 2005 at the French Open. And one couldn't forget his embarrassing loss at the hands of Dustin Brown in Wimbledon second round.
The year 2016 was also no different for Nadal as his struggle continued at Australian Open where he was outclassed by fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the first round. Soon a series of shocking losses in consecutive tournaments were witnessed. He bounced back stronger by winning the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open in April. This was followed by semis and quarters run at Madrid Open and Italian Open receptively. All eyes were on Nadal at the French Open where he was looking good to win his tenth title at Roland Garros, but the left wrist injury came back to haunt Nadal as he was forced to withdraw from the third round.
Nadal came back and took part in Rio Olympics where he finished a disappointing fourth in singles competition but managed to clinch the men’s doubles gold medal along with Marc Lopez. Nadal was inconsistent for the remaining season and ended the year 2016 without a Grand Slam for the second year on a trot.
The Spaniard who is considered as a Phoenix resurged again and made it to the Australian Open final before losing out the title to his long-time rival Federer in an intense five-set battle. He regained his lost momentum by winning back-to-back Masters 1000 titles and went on to clinch the French Open where he dismantled Stan Wawrinka 6–2, 6–3, 6–1 to win a record 10th Roland Garros title. Nadal silenced his critics in the best way possible with the Grand Slam win. With his current red-hot form Rafa will definitely be having an eye on the Wimbledon title which he last won in 2010.