Roger Federer won't set Grand Slam target after winning number 19 at Wimbledon

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Roger Federer will not put a number on how many Grand Slams he can win after an historic eighth Wimbledon title.

The 35-year-old stretched his career Grand Slam tally to 19 following a one-sided 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Marin Cilic in yesterday’s final on Centre Court.

It was his second major win of the year, having triumphed at the Australian Open, after which he opted to miss the clay-court season.

He is now the favourite to win the US Open for the sixth time when the event gets under way in New York just a few weeks after his 36th birthday next month.

“I’ve not set my sights on a number of Grand Slams that I have to or want to achieve,” he said in the wake of his latest Wimbledon triumph. “I never had that.”

Federer had looked unlikely to add to his total of 17 Grand Slams, prior to this season his last title on the biggest stage was at Wimbledon in 2012.

But following six months off due to surgery on his knee in the wake of last year’s Wimbledon where he was a semi-finalist, he has been resurgent in 2017, some suggesting he is currently at the peak of his powers.

After adding to that score in yesterday’s final, he said: “I was very content at 17 [Grand Slams] and then even happier at 18, happier still at 19. So, 17 is a wonderful number.

“For me, it’s about enjoying myself is a wonderful number. It’s about enjoying myself and staying healthy, and we’ll see what happens. The target is to enjoy being Wimbledon champion for a year and Australian Open champion for a year.”

Unlike after his Australian Open triumph, Federer will not now have a lengthy spell on the sidelines. He is likely to return to action in the next three weeks as the hard-court season gets under way in the United States prior to the final Grand Slam of 2017.

Following his Wimbledon success and with no more points to defend under the rankings system after missing the latter half of 2016, he could be No1 by this time next month and looks likely to go head to head with Rafa Nadal for that top spot for the remainder of the season.

But Federer insisted he was not driven by the No1 spot.

“I’m playing for titles at this time in my career, rankings not so much,” he said. “I have to check if it’s worth chasing it. If you win the biggest tournaments, you will be rewarded by it but I have to be clever with my body.”

After winning in Melbourne — beating Nadal in the final — Federer had said he had partied like a rock star, and last night celebrated with 30 to 40 friends at a London bar after the Wimbledon Ball, drinking as he put it “too many different types of drinks” and finally going to bed at 5am.

His Wimbledon victory was historic for a number of reasons; the first man to seal eight titles at SW19 as well as the oldest man to win the title in the Open era.

And looking back on a tournament in which he did not drop a set – the first man to do so since Bjorn Borg in 1976— he admitted he felt far from the pre-tournament favourite as billed by the bookmakers.

“It was a great performance from me on the mental side to win the tournament after they told me I was favourite, which was a bit too soon to be honest,” he added.

“Just because I played well at the beginning of the year didn’t mean I’d play well here. So, to come up with the goods here was very gratifying. You need all aspects like a puzzle to fit together nicely.”

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