Wimbledon 2023: The Princess of Wales and Roger Federer are seated in the Royal Box.
Roger Federer received a standing ovation at the All England Club before being greeted with a loud roar at Wimbledon.
When Roger Federer arrived in the Royal Box at Centre Court on Tuesday for a brief ceremony honouring his career and his men’s-record eight Wimbledon singles titles, the crowd, which included Princess Kate, gave him a standing ovation that lasted for one and a half minutes.
The retired Federer made his way to his seat in the reserved area above one of the baselines in the Grand Slam tournament’s main stadium while donning a cream-colored suit with his purple All England Club member’s pin affixed to a lapel, a striped shirt, and a polka-dot tie.
On a rainy Day 2 at the grass-court competition that he once dominated, Federer waved and tapped his chest while repeatedly exclaiming, “Thank you,” as the cheers and adulation poured underneath the closed retractable canopy.
Before the start of play at Centre Court, an announcer explained that Federer was being honored for “his contributions to tennis — and, particularly, to these very special lawns.”
Following a number of knee surgeries, Federer, who turns 42 on August 8, announced his retirement at the end of the previous year.
His final contest was a 2021 All England Club quarterfinal defeat against Hubert Hurkacz.
A video highlight loop of Federer playing, triumphing, and speaking at Wimbledon, where he won the first of his 20 career Grand Slam titles in 2003, was shown during the ceremony on Tuesday. That was the beginning of a streak of five straight victories that lasted until 2007, then more titles there in 2009, 2012, and 2017.
After winning his first-round match on Monday, Novak Djokovic is attempting to tie Roger Federer’s record at Wimbledon this year by capturing his fifth straight championship and eighth overall. The overall record at the competition belongs to Martina Navratilova, who won the women’s singles title nine times.
“When I stop, the tournament still lives on. The tournament is bigger than any player who’s ever lived,” a younger Federer said in an interview shown during the film Tuesday. “I really look forward to the day where I retire and I can come back and just have tea time, you know, on the terrace.”
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