Roger Federer joined a parade of former Wimbledon champions on Centre Court Sunday to celebrate the centenary of the famous show court. The Swiss has not competed since his quarter-final run one year ago at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, but was thrilled to be back on the court which has provided many of the best memories of his career.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of matches on this court,” the 40-year-old said in the on-court ceremony. “It’s great to be here with all the other champions. This court has given me my biggest wins and my biggest losses.”

Federer recalled his 2001 victory over seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras — his first Centre Court win — as one of his favourite personal highlights.

“He has inspired a lot of us [that are here] today to just try to also be successful here and represent the sport well,” Federer said of the American. “I hope I did that and I hope I can come back here one more time.”

Two years later, Federer won the first of his eight Wimbledon crowns by defeating Mark Philippoussis in the 2003 final. No man has won more than his eight singles titles at SW19, and this year’s event is the first he has missed at The Championships since his 1999 debut.

“Of course I missed being here [this year as a player],” he said. “I would have loved to be here. I knew walking out here last year it was going to be a tough year ahead. Maybe I didn’t think it was going to take me this long to come back but the knee has been rough on me.

“But I’ve been happy, I’ve been happy at home. It’s been a good year, regardless of tennis. Our kids our fine… I travelled so much for so many years.”

On Sunday, the Swiss was happy to get back on the road to mark the momentous occasion.

“I didn’t know if I should make the trip, but I’m happy standing right here right now,” he said in front of a packed crowd and full Royal Box, with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King and Rod Laver joining him on court for the celebrations.

Stefanos Tsitsipas lost a fiery four-set match against Nick Kyrgios on Saturday at Wimbledon, but the Greek departs London in good position for the rest of the season.

The 23-year-old is guaranteed to lead the ATP Tour in wins after Wimbledon with 42, regardless of results for the rest of the fortnight. The World No. 5 went 8-3 during his grass-court season, including a run to his first tour-level title on the surface in Mallorca.

2022 Match Wins Leaders (as of 2 July)

Tsitsipas is second in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin as he aims to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. Tsitsipas lifted his biggest trophy at the season finale in 2019, when the event was held at The O2 in London. 

In addition to his recent triumph in Mallorca, Tsitsipas claimed his second ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April and made the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Greek fell short on No. 1 Court at the All England Club against an in-form Kyrgios, who now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 4-1. Despite the tension in the match, Tsitsipas held a set point in the fourth-set tie-break. If he converted the opportunity, it would have pushed the match to a deciding set in front of the London crowd.

“I enjoyed my tennis today. I enjoyed the atmosphere out there,” Tsitsipas said. “I enjoyed the way I fought and the way I tried to find solutions.”