Wimbledon 2021: I got a bit lucky, says Roger Federer after surviving a close scare against Adrian Mannarino

Roger Federer survived a massive scare against Adrian Mannarino before advancing to the Wimbledon second round on Tuesday when the Frenchman retired with a knee injury after slipping on court.

The match was poised at 6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-2 with Federer forcing a fifth set before Mannarino, celebrating his 33rd birthday, decided he could not continue.

“It’s awful,” Federer said in his on-court interview. “It shows that one shot can change the outcome of a match, a season, a career. I wish him all the best and I hope he recovers quickly so we see him back on the courts.

“He could have won the match at the end. Obviously, he was the better player, so I definitely got a bit lucky.”

“My English is not good enough!”

Even at 39, you never stop learning – right, @rogerfederer?#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/5BALP53NDA

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2021

Adrian Mannarino injured his right knee late in the fourth set. He tried to continue but dropped eight of nine points when they resumed and called it quits.

“I do feel it feels a tad more slippery, maybe, under the roof. I don’t know if it’s just a gut feeling. You do have to move very, very carefully out there. If you push too hard in the wrong moments, you do go down,” Federer said.

“I do feel it’s drier during the day. With the wind and all that stuff, it takes the moist out of the grass. But this is obviously terrible,” added Federer.

The 20-times Grand Slam winner came into Tuesday’s match having lost just one set in his six previous meetings against the left-hander, including three on the manicured grass at Wimbledon.

Federer, at 39 the oldest man in the singles draw, will meet either Frenchman Richard Gasquet or Yuichi Sugita of Japan for a place in the third round.

“You don’t get many walkovers throughout a career and you try also not to have it happen to yourself,” Federer added. “It’s a reminder how quickly it goes. But of course, I’m obviously happy I can get another chance for another match here.”I worked very hard and at the end I enjoyed myself out here today. It was great fun until the end, obviously.”