Federer hopes to play Wimbledon 1 more time

Roger Federer did make his way to Wimbledon this year, after all — not to compete, mind you, but to take part in a ceremony marking the centenary of Centre Court on Sunday — and declared his intention to try to return in 2023 with a racket in hand.

“Just tried to be successful here and represent the sport well. I hope I did that,” said Federer, who won a men’s-record eight of his 20 Grand Slam titles at the All England Club and was greeted with a standing ovation. “And I hope I can come back one more time.”

Instead of the mandatory all-white playing uniform, Federer wore a dark suit and tie, his purple Wimbledon member’s badge pinned to a jacket lapel. The Swiss star, who turns 41 on Aug. 8 and has been sidelined for a year by knee problems, was among more than two dozen winners of singles championships at the grass-court tournament who appeared in the main stadium during a 35-minute tribute to a stadium that opened in 1922.

There were gauzy videos — three in all — quips from co-hosts Sue Barker and John McEnroe, performances by Cliff Richard, who used to help kill time by singing during rain delays (a thing of the past, now that Centre Court and No. 1 Court are outfitted with retractable roofs), and Freya Ridings, who sang the 2017 ballad “Lost Without You” while accompanying herself on a white piano placed on the grass near some front-row seats.

Past champions on hand included some still in the brackets this year, such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep in singles, and Venus Williams in mixed doubles.

When it was his turn with the microphone, Djokovic joked: “Gosh, I feel more nervous than when I’m playing.”

Andy Murray, whose 2013 Wimbledon singles trophy was the first for a British man in 77 years, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova

were other active players present. And there were big names from yesteryear, too, of course: Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg — he and McEnroe, fierce rivals in the 1980s, hugged each other — Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic.

Absent were three of the winningest players in tournament history: Martina Navratilova

(who tested positive for COVID-19 and wrote on Twitter she was “gutted” to miss the occasion), Serena Williams and Pete Sampras.

Navratilova’s nine singles championships are a Wimbledon record; Williams, who lost in the first round last week, and Sampras, who retired in 2002, each won it seven times.