Roger Federer said that he felt he might never make another grand slam final, let alone win one, after reaching only two semi-finals from the four majors last year.
Having missed the French Open last year as he was recovering from knee surgery - the first grand slam tournament he had missed since 1999 - Federer fell to the court during his 2016 Wimbledon semi-final defeat in five sets by Milos Raonic and decided to take a six-month break from the game.
That appears to have paid dividends as today he clinched his eighth Wimbledon title, his 19th grand slam victory, adding to his success at the Australian Open in January.
“It’s disbelief I can achieve such heights. I wasn’t sure I would ever be here in another final after last year,” said Federer, who turns 36 in three weeks’ time.
“I had some tough ones in the finals, losing two against Novak [Djokovic]. But I always believed. I kept on believing and dreaming I could get back. Here am I today with the eighth. It’s fantastic, if you keep believing you can go far in your life.”
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Federer won in Melbourne in January on his return to the tour before winning the Indian Wells and Miami Masters events, and a ninth Halle grasscourt title before Wimbledon. He also skipped the entire claycourt season.
“I’ve got to take more time off,” joked the Swiss, who was playing in just his seventh event of the year. “I’ll be gone again for the next six months! I don’t know if it will work as well again.”
Marin Cilic, his beaten opponent today, revealed he had been suffering from a blister in his foot after he was forced to call for a medical timeout at the end of the second set. The Croatian seventh seed, playing his first Wimbledon final, was distraught after going 3-0 behind in the second set, sitting on his chair in tears.
“It was definitely one of the unfortunate days for me for this to happen. I had a really bad blister and fluid came down into the callus,” the 28-year-old said. “It was tough emotionally because I know how much went into the preparation in the past few months.
“It was really bad luck but I wanted to give my best and try as much as I could. But it was tough when you are in that situation because you know there is not much chance to win.”