Roger Federer spoke to Andy Murray before the Scot’s final men’s doubles match but decided against going on Centre Court to overshadow the post-match ceremony.
The Swiss superstar paid a visit to the All England Club on Wednesday – and recorded his tribute to his fellow Wimbledon champion in a video montage.
But while Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova came onto Centre Court after the match, Federer was nowhere to be seen.
MC Sue Barker even announced his name while reading through a list of champions in attendance.
Asked if the 20-time Grand Slam winner had decided not to overshadow events, tournament director Jamie Baker said: “Yeah, he went and saw Andy before the match.
“They had a good chat. The player thing was the most fluid part of our plan obviously with matches going on and the weather we didn’t know how that was going to work out so we made a last-minute decision to get some of those players on the court which I think actually made quite a nice addition to the celebration, I think Andy really appreciated that as well.”
Asked if Federer could return for the mixed doubles, the tournament director responded: “I don’t know, I’m not sure how long Roger is staying for.”
The All England Club had said before The Championships that they were prepared to honour Murray but needed the go-head from the player. The Australian Open infamously played a video tribute in 2019 and he continued to play for another five years.
“It was always being driven by the decisions he was making and if this was going to be his last Wimbledon or not,” Baker added.
“We are speaking to his team all the time but on Tuesday when he withdrew from the singles, at that point when he did it he confirmed this would be his last Wimbledon so that was the most certain point. There was no way we were letting this guy go without a tribute because he deserves it.”
Former BBC presenter Barker made a surprise return to Centre Court to speak once more to Murray.
“It was a big team effort that one,” Baker revealed. “We’ve been thinking about this for months and trying to really do a tribute that was focused on Andy and what would be fitting for his achievements and Sue, with the history they’ve had and the experiences, she was the obvious choice for us so we picked up the phone ages ago and she was obviously delighted to do it.”
Murray will return to court on Saturday to play the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu against Shuai Zhang of China and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador in the mixed doubles. But the All England Club decided to honour Murray on Wednesday night.
“There’s quite a lot of uncertainty around mixed doubles with people playing multiple events and the scheduling is quite a lot harder,” added the tournament director. “We were very committed to wanting to do the celebration on Centre Court, obviously, and as the days go on we’ve got big singles matches and with them being in the doubles we wanted it to happen on Centre Court.
“So, there were a few different things, and also a lot of variables. They could have won three matches or four matches and equally with the mixed doubles, Emma is still in singles and we don’t quite know how that schedule is going to pan out so that was some of our thinking. I’m really delighted we could give Andy the send-off on Centre Court like we did last night.
“The schedule for the mixed doubles is fluid and I think it’s a bonus that wherever they are playing he’s clearly going, the British public, are going to give him a great send-off. We’ll see how the next few days plays out.”
