28 Jun 2013

No question of retirement for Federer

12:39 pm on 28 June 2013

Despite his earliest Wimbledon exit in more than ten years, the seven time champion Roger Federer has again dismissed any talk of retirement.

The little-known 116th ranked Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky has ended Federer's remarkable run of 36 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals beating the 31-year-old, 17 grand slam winner in four sets, three of them tiebreakers.

The latest loss comes after his quarter-final exit at the French Open earlier this month.

Federer, the world number three, feels lower ranked players have gained some self-belief when playing the likes of himself, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.

The former women's champion Maria Sharapova has also been eliminated while injuries have forced the withdrawals of seven players including the women's second seed Victoria Azarenka, the men's 6th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Rafael Nadal's conqueror, the Belgian Steve Darcis.