Roger Federer's body has been saying no for the past two years, but Pat Cash is hopeful the 39-year-old will return for another run on the ATP Tour.
After suffering a setback to his longstanding knee injury during Wimbledon, the 20-time grand slam champion has this week withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympics.
Despite being without much match practice – playing just four tournaments before Wimbledon after coming back from two knee surgeries - Federer was able to make the quarter-finals at All England Club.
However, he suffered a demoralising loss to Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets in the last eight that promoted a fresh round of speculation over his future in the game.
Cash, who won Wimbledon in 1987, hopes Federer will be back despite his recent injury woe.
He told Stats Perform: "First of all, let's hope that Roger Federer will keep going.
"I think he can, I think he just needs more matches and probably needs to make sure that he's able to last.
"But your body starts saying no at some stage and it's been saying that for a couple of years now for him."
Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic is now level with Rafael Nadal and Federer on 20 slams.
Cash believes judging the Swiss star purely on grand slam titles is not a fair measure of his brilliance, pointing instead to his astonishing record totals of 58 major quarter-final berths and 46 semis.
"He has been the most consistent player that I think we've ever seen," Cash said. "He may not end up with as many grand slams but his consistency is just outrageous.
"All the other players have lost early in grand slams, the Djokovics, the [Andy] Murrays, then the Nadals had lost early in grand slams, Roger just doesn't do it.
"Of all the titles that he's won, I think for me, his most impressive record is how many semi-finals or quarter-finals in grand slams in a row that he got to. It was something ridiculous for 10 or 11 years.
"He never failed at any grand slams and that is just absolutely mind blowing."
However long he tries to play on, Cash insists nothing can sour the memories of an extraordinary career from Federer.
Cash added: "Obviously, he raised the bar as far as the standard of tennis has gone.
"The other players really had to catch up. Novak admitted it, he said, 'Without Roger there, leading the way, I wouldn't have been as good a player as I could have been'.
"That's the gold standard of Roger Federer over his career and I'm not sure anybody will be as consistent as him in tennis history.
"He's just phenomenal the way he plays, and we all of course enjoy the style, his movement. And he's a class act off the court as well."
Federer's status for the US Open, which begins on August 30, is unclear, with Djokovic looking to take the outright lead for major titles and achieve a historic calendar year Grand Slam.
Djokovic thrilled by prospect of 'one last dance' with Nadal
Novak Djokovic is thrilled by the prospect of meeting Rafael Nadal for "one last dance" at the Paris Olympics, if the Spaniard overcomes an injury setback to feature at Roland-Garros.
Thursday's men's singles draw saw Djokovic paired with Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round, with Nadal taking on Marton Fucsovics.
The legendary duo – who have won 46 grand slam singles titles between them – will meet in the second round if they both advance through their openers this weekend.
Djokovic and Nadal have previously faced off on 59 occasions, with the Serbian winning 30 of those contests but losing four of the last six, the most recent being a Nadal victory in four sets in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.
Nadal's participation at the Games was thrown into doubt when his coach Carlos Moya said he had suffered a "setback" on Thursday and required 48 hours of rest.
If Nadal – who is widely expected to retire later this year – does make the tournament, Djokovic is looking forward to the prospect of facing him for a 60th time.
"Obviously he hasn't played much. His ranking dropped, so there was always going to be that possibility of me meeting him in an early round and there we go," Djokovic said.
"It's going to be a spectacle, definitely, if we get to meet. We will spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times.
"I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for the both of us."
Djokovic is set to appear at his fifth Olympics in the French capital, the joint-most by any male player since the sport returned to the Games in 1988 (with Yen Hsun Lu).
He is the player with the most matches played (19) and joint-most matches won (13, level with Roger Federer) at the Olympics since 1988.
However, his best result at the Games remains a Bronze medal at Beijing 2008, when he was beaten by eventual gold medallist Nadal in the semi-finals.
Djokovic lost the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, also losing to Juan Martin del Potro at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Linette dominates first all-Polish WTA final to win Prague Open
Magda Linette rounded off her Olympic preparations in style as she claimed her third WTA title with a comfortable win over Magdalena Frech at the Prague Open.
Linette, who beat Viktoriya Tomova and Linda Noskova on her way to the final, won in straight sets 6-2 6-1 as she now heads to Paris to face Mirra Andreeva.
The world number 41 was in the ascendency from the off, forcing a break in the fourth game and never looking back.
Despite the best efforts of Frech, who saved one set point, Linette continued to apply the pressure and another break put her a set up.
Linette would again break in the fourth game of the second set, winning three games on the bounce to secure her first career win over her compatriot.
Data Debrief: Linette prevails in first all-Polish affair
The final in Prague between Linette and Frech was the first all-Polish WTA level final in the Open Era.
Linette's triumph over her opponent was her first, having lost in the pair's previous encounter in Saint-Malo back in 2022.
During the contest, the world number 41 gave nothing away, saving all four of the break points she faced while converting three of the seven she had against Frech.
Nadal suffers injury 'setback' as Olympics participation thrown into doubt
Rafael Nadal may be facing another injury setback at the Paris Olympic Games after his coach warned over the Spaniard's fitness.
The 22-time major champion is widely expected to retire at the end of this year, though is preparing for a final swansong at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 titles.
Nadal is set to play in the singles and doubles tournaments of the Olympics, partnering current French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the latter competition.
Yet his participation has become doubtful after coach Carlos Moya confirmed Nadal had cancelled his training session on Thursday due to a hamstring issue.
"It was a setback and we decided that today Rafa would rest and not train to recover," Moya said, as quoted by Spanish journalist Rafael Plaza.
"We are going to give ourselves 48 hours, we have to wait."
The 38-year-old is reportedly feeling soreness in both his left and right hamstring having pulled out of a scheduled practice session with Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz had been partnering Nadal throughout the week during training on the clay courts of Paris, though the veteran's feature has now been thrown under a cloud of doubt.
Nadal is one of just two players to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles since the sport returned to the Games in 1988, doing so at Beijing 2008 (singles) and Rio 2016 (doubles).
In the singles in the French capital, Nadal has been drawn against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the opening round, and the prize could be a second-round date with long-term rival Novak Djokovic.
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