Former champion Roger Federer withdrew from the French Open on Thursday, citing fitness issues, as his record run of appearing at 65 consecutive grand slam tournaments came to an end.
The 34-year-old world number three’s appearance at Roland Garros had been in doubt after he missed the Madrid Open with back problems and suffered an early defeat at the Italian Open in the build-up to the claycourt major he won in 2009.
The last time the 17-times grand slam champion was absent from one of the sport’s four majors was at the 1999 U.S. Open.
“I regret to announce that I have made the decision not to play in this year’s French Open,” father of four Federer said in a message posted on Facebook.
Soon, #WhenFedererLastMissedASlam started trending too:
#WhenFedererLastMissedASlam@RafaelNadal was 13 years old & competed in the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals (1999). pic.twitter.com/jNTpiidj3m
— Rafael Nadal Fans (@RafaelNadalFC) May 19, 2016
#WhenFedererLastMissedASlam We weren’t born!! 😢👶🏼 pic.twitter.com/YC0MvYfPpb
— Mutua Madrid Open (@MutuaMadridOpen) May 19, 2016
#whenfedererlastmissedaslamRafa (and Gasquet) looked like this: https://t.co/EORO0WcyOq
— Steve Tignor (@SteveTignor) May 19, 2016
#WhenFedererLastMissedASlam@RafaelNadal was 13 years old & competed in the ITF World Junior Tennis Finals (1999). pic.twitter.com/jNTpiidj3m
— Rafael Nadal Fans (@RafaelNadalFC) May 19, 2016
#WhenFedererLastMissedASlamY2K scare *and* Neve Campbellhttps://t.co/OmpFLOFTc5
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) May 19, 2016
21 things that happened that last time @rogerfederer missed a Slam (Mirka was ranked!) https://t.co/IWhi6ZNrre #WhenFedererLastMissedASlam
— Chris Chase (@FireChrisChase) May 19, 2016
#WhenFedererLastMissedASlam I was 11..and waiting for my Hogwarts letter.It’s been 65 Grand Slams ..wow Still no letter though..
— The Final Problem (@Dipikav) May 20, 2016
#whenfedererlastmissedaslam Sachin was yet to score an international double century
— Harisankar (@harish_staycalm) May 20, 2016
All those #WhenFedererLastMissedASlam jokes apart, super sad he’s missing a slam. Did you know Raina also missed his first IPL game?
— Murali (@the_brahminator) May 20, 2016
Well, the irony is #WhenFedererLastMissedASlam, there was no Twitter to make these fancy hashtags.
Featured image source: AFP
