Will Roger Federer, Venus Williams Retire at the 2012 London Olympics?

While it is far too early to be looking forward to or making predictions about the 30th Olympic festival in London 2012, it is possible to look at the significance of this largely anticipated event.

Roger Federer, who has always regarded Wimbledon as his favourite grand slam tournament, holds a special place for the Olympic Games.

His first experience of Olympic competition was in Sydney 2000. Having reached the semi finals at the age of just 19, Federer was in position to become the youngest ever Olympic gold medalist.

However, he put in a below average performance against Tommy Hass, who at the time was ranked 12 places below him.

Perhaps the most agonizing part of the Sydney Olympics was the fact that he couldn’t even beat Arnaud DiPasquale of France, in the end going down 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-3.

Federer did not go home with total disappointment, however, as during the tournament he met his girlfriend Mirka Varinec, whom he is still with to this day.

In preparation for the Athens Olympics 2004, Federer described how he had been looking forward to the event for four years. He was the flag carrier for Switzerland in the opening ceremony and was dreaming of bringing the Olympic Gold home for his country.

However Federer, who was in peak condition for taking gold, suffered a devastating defeat to the young Czech Thomas Berdych. The final score was 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Federer was further disappointed when he and his doubles partner, Yves Allegro, were defeated by India’s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

Once again, the Beijing Olympics 2008 provided Federer with a clean slate. However, during his worst season for some time, Federer lost to American James Blake.

Thankfully for him, unlike the previous Olympics, Federer’s doubles campaign was successful, as he and his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka won the Olympic gold.

There was clear relief for Federer as he celebrated with Stanislas, but one must question his satisfaction with doubles gold, rather than a singles gold, which he appeared to crave for so long.

Given that the London Olympics will of course be holding the tennis in Wimbledon, Federer’s beloved Grand Slam, and he will be aging at 31, perhaps this would be the perfect stage for Federer to bow out of his illustrious tennis career.

Although some would argue that Federer might want to continue for some time after this, as he stated himself, they may be in for a surprise.

The fact is that the very beauty of Federer’s magnificent career is built around a pure elegance and grace of character. He’s even said it himself on numerous occasions, ‘’I don’t want to do something unless I know I can do it 100 percent.’’

From the very start of his Olympic career in Sydney, the Olympic Games have had a profound effect on Federer, an effect that has fallen deep into the core of his tradition.

As we have seen from his hatred of the Hawk Eye system, Federer is clearly a true traditionalist, and what better way to mark that by signing off in London 2012. The home of his tradition. The home of his ‘’Golden Beauty,’’ Wimbledon.

On the women’s side, we’ve heard how Venus Williams would like to end her career there as well, and given that she also holds five Wimbledon titles, surely this would be the best way to mark the end of a magnificent era in a blaze of glory.