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Retirement not in the cards yet for Swiss tennis star Roger Federer

LONDON -- Roger Federer will take time in the next couple of days to plan his future after losing in straight sets at Wimbledon on Wednesday in a men's singles quarterfinal to Hubert Hurkacz, but he said he has no immediate plans to retire.

Federer, 39, lost 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0 and looked emotional as he left Centre Court. Having recently recovered from two knee surgeries, Federer was asked whether retirement was now a viable option in the near future.

"No, it's about having perspective," Federer said. "You need a goal when you're going through rehab with what I did. You can't think of the entire mountain; you need steps. Wimbledon was the first super step. Now that's over, you need to reassess everything. You need to work out where's the body, knee and mind.

"It's a struggle for me. I knew it was going to be hard, to be honest, but now I need to talk to the team, take time -- not feel rushed by you guys or anybody -- take time and work out the decision to take. I hope not, the goal is to play on."

Federer would not commit to playing at the Tokyo Olympics, saying he will recover and assess his defeat. When asked whether this would be his final match on Centre Court, he answered: "I really don't know. I need to regroup. My goal was to play another Wimbledon. The initial goal was to play last year. I was able to play this year. With everything that comes after Wimbledon, we were always going to sit down and talk about it.

"Now Wimbledon's over, I need to take a few days. We'll take some time tonight, see how I feel, and then we'll see what I can do to get in better shape and more competitive. I'm happy I made it as far as I did here. Of course I'd like to play again, but at my age, you're never sure what's around the corner."

Federer said the manner of defeat hurt and added he was exhausted. "I could have a nap right now," he said.

Federer said he will talk with his team on Thursday evening and then rest for a couple of days before deciding on how the rest of the year works, having prioritized Wimbledon.

"It was tough, those last few games -- you can feel you're not coming back from it," he said. "I'm not used to that situation. The ovation was fantastic. I love it; that's why I still play now. It's nice to see a 100% crowd today. Unfortunately, they witnessed a straight-sets defeat."