“I think this is as good as I could do during these championships,” reflected the Swiss. “Andy was much better than I was today in many aspects of the game. For me, it’s been a great month. I won Wimbledon, became World No. 1 again, and I got silver. Don’t feel too bad for me. I am very, very proud honestly to have won a silver.“I had a very emotional tournament from start to finish. I could have lost in the first round against (Alejandro) Falla. Same thing obviously with (Juan Martin) del Potro. I felt like I won my silver, I didn’t lose it. So I feel very, very happy.”Federer had edged Falla 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in his opener and earned his place in the gold medal match by prevailing against del Potro 3-6, 7-6(5), 19-17 in a semi-final that lasted four hours and 26 minutes. He reflected on the emotional drain of those narrow escapes, and admitted it may have gotten the better of him in the final.“I had tears in my eyes after my first round match. Doing media on court, I almost broke down,” he explained. “But this is how much this meant to me. I understood how close I was from losing. Then there was no doubt about it, I felt the same way exactly after the semis. “Maybe there was so much emotion already out of me that potentially today that kind of hindered me from playing my absolute very best.”
