Roger Federer And Serena Williams’ Careers Are Affected By COVID-19, Says Former Player

There is no question that Roger Federer and Serena Williams are one of the best to ever step foot on the tennis court. With the global pandemic ongoing, the careers of Federer and Williams have been affected says former top ten player Nicolas Lapentti.

The accolades of Federer and Williams are boundless as the two at one point in their careers were considered to be unstoppable. The 20 Grand Slam Championships Federer has is a record for the men’s division as only Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic come close with 19 and 17 respectively.

Williams has also been considered as one of the most dominant athletes in the women’s division with 23 majors.

While it’s for certain that Federer and Williams are heralded as the greatest performers in the history of the sport, the coronavirus has caused a hurdle at this point in their careers. There is still much room left in the tank for these two and they could have piled up more victories in the last few months.

The timing has been unfortunate for the two, as Williams could have tied Court in the all-time Grand Slam titles. The 23 wins under Williams’ belt is just one championship away from Margaret Court’s 24 titles. Nobody else has stepped up like Williams in the past few decades as she holds the most wins for any active WTA player on tour.

For Federer, he has currently been nursing a knee injury that has sidelined him for the past couple of months. It would have been a perfect return for the Swiss superstar as he was scheduled to fully recover by Wimbledon. The grass-court tournament has been Federer’s strongest surface and would have been a favorite to hoist up another title.

These moments are unfortunate for those who follow Federer and Williams religiously. As Lapentti shared, it’s like fans are being removed from the opportunity to see the greats play.

"Tennis players like Federer and Serena are getting older and, in that sense, we have less time to enjoy their game,” said Lapentti by way of Tennis World USA.

“Currently, they are not suffering any wear and tear because the tennis is stopped. It will be something more at the mental level if they want to remain active longer and compete at the highest level," Lapentti added.

The world will have to wait until the coronavirus crisis settles down and sports returns to its normal state.