‘I won’t be a ghost to the fans’

ALL-TIME great Roger Federer is open to returning to Wimbledon as a BBC commentator after promising he will not become a “ghost” in his retirement.

He will play his final ATP Tour match in the doubles at the Laver Cup in London tomorrow night – probably with Rafa Nadal.

But Federer (above) said he could still be seen and heard in the future in tennis.

“Funnily enough, I always thought I’ll never go on the journalist side, or that commentary would never be a thing for me,” he said.

“But the subject of commenting suddenly came to mind six months ago. Who knows? Maybe specifically commenting on some games at Wimbledon, for example.

“But I have no plans so far. Jumping back in and out every once in a while might be something tennis could use. This allows you to keep in touch with the Tour and the players. And sometimes when you’re a past player, you need a purpose to come back to a tournament as well.

“It’s not so much about Wimbledon. For me it’s more about having past players or champions, for that matter commentating is important.

“It’s super important because they give you the insight, they tell you how it used to be or how they felt.

“And sometimes you watch matches because of the commentary and less about the match itself. So it is a really important part to the game. And if I can add something, maybe that would be nice, but I would also have to think about it. But I just think it’s important that we, the great players, still are around sometimes.”

Federer, 41, announced last week that the Laver Cup will be his farewell. He added: “I wanted to let the fans know I won’t be a ghost. I don’t think Bjorn Borg returned to Wimbledon for 25 years.

“That, in a way, hurts every tennis fan. I wanted to let the fans know that you’ll see me again.”