Roger Federer yesterday offered a glimmer of hope to his rivals hoping to bridge the yawning gap between them and the Wimbledon champion.
The Swiss ace earned the right to line up alongside modern legends Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras when he beat Andy Roddick to complete a hat-trick of triumphs at the All England Club and has been tipped to dominate Wimbledon for years.
The 23-year-old world number one believes there is yet more improvement to come in his game but revealed he may find it difficult to sustain his performance at current levels.
"I'm not quite there yet," he warned. "I'll take it match by match, day by day, year by year, basically for the next few years.
"So far I've been lucky not to have any injuries. But playing at the level I am is very draining and it's hard to keep that up all the time. Wimbledon and the grass has definitely been very good to me over the last few years and, of course, I'll try to carry that even longer the next year."
Federer's straight-sets win over Roddick extended his unbeaten run on grass to 36 matches going back to the first round of Wimbledon in 2002 and he is on course to break Borg's record of 41, set from 1976 to 81, in next year's semi-finals.
Federer, who has lost just eight of his last 101 sets on grass, feels he is still vulnerable, especially on clay and hardcourt.
He paid tribute to veteran coach Tony Roche. Federer, who had no coach last year, linked up with him part-time in January. He added: "I'm very thankful for every day and every week he gives me because I know how old he is and what he's been through, as a player and as a coach. He doesn't need it any more."
