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It was the year 2003. A 21-year-old Roger Federer had made it to the summit clash of the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career. Further, in the final, he went on to defeat Australia’s Mark Philippoussis to clinch his maiden Grand Slam title. It was just the beginning of many achievements to come for the Swiss Maestro.

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Fast forward to 2022, the Swiss legend has retired from tennis after winning an astonishing 20 major titles. Additionally, he has numerous records to his name. As Federer bids adieu to tennis, Twitter paid a special tribute to him.

Twitter’s surprise for Roger Federer

Earlier this week, the social media platform announced that they would honor the Swiss Maestro with a special emoji for some hashtags based on him.

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It revealed, “With @rogerfederer set to retire after this week’s Laver Cup, Twitter will honor a player that claimed 20 major titles and held the world no. 1 men’s ranking for 237 consecutive weeks. The following hashtags will prompt an emoji featuring a tennis racquet with a crown, allowing fans to celebrate his historic career and send him off in style: #RogerFederer, #ThankYouRoger, #Federer, #RForever.” 

via Reuters

Tributes have been pouring in for Federer ever since he broke news about his retirement. Recently, Swiss telecom provider ‘Sunrise’ changed their network’s name to ‘Thanks Roger’ to honor him. Further, many fellow players also took to social media to congratulate Federer on a wonderful tennis career.

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Federer on telling his kids about his retirement plans

After his last match on Friday, Federer was seen having an emotional embrace with his kids. He consoled them after tears rolled down their eyes. During an interview, he revealed how his kids reacted after knowing that he’ll soon retire.

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Talking about this to Blick, Federer said, “Somewhere they were sad that I was stopping. But they always said, ‘Stop playing tennis, we want to go skiing.’ I told all four at the same time, and three of the four cried.”

The Swiss Maestro’s career ended on a losing note as he lost his doubles match with Nadal. Further, Team World defeated Team Europe to clinch the 2022 Laver Cup title for the first time since the competition’s inception.