Wimbledon 2017: Roger Federer on why breaking records doesn't matter, chasing Andy Murray and partying until 5am

The 35-year-old Swiss made it a magnificent eight by beating Marin Cilic on Sunday afternoon before celebrating yet another triumph long into the night

Roger Federer looked and sounded his usual assured self when he returned to the All England Club on Monday morning, but appearances were deceptive.

“My head's ringing,” the 35-year-old Swiss admitted, just 18 hours after winning his 19^th Grand Slam title. “I don't know what I did last night. I drank too many types of drinks, I guess.”

On the night of his Australian Open triumph in January Federer had said he and his entourage had “partied like rock stars”. Becoming the first man in history to win eight Wimbledon singles titles clearly merited similar celebrations, which had begun with his appearance at the Champions’ Dinner in the Guildhall in the City of London.

“After the [dinner] we went to a bar,” Federer said. “There were almost 30 to 40 friends there. We had a great time. I got to bed at five, then woke up, and just didn't feel good. The last hour or so I'm somewhat OK again. So I'm happy with that. We had a good time.”

Federer, the oldest Wimbledon men’s singles champion in the Open era, passed another set of landmarks with his latest triumph but insisted that breaking records is not high on his priority list these days.

After all, the Swiss already holds many of the more significant records, including the most Grand Slam titles (he passed Pete Sampras’ previous record total of 14 long ago) and the most appearances in Grand Slam finals (29).

“The target now is to enjoy being Wimbledon champion – and Australian Open champion, you name it – for a year,” Federer said. “I haven’t set sights on a number of Grand Slams that I have to or want to achieve.

“I never really had that. I was very content at 17, I must tell you. Of course, I was going to be happier at 18 and I’m even happier at 19. But 17 was a wonderful number so I think for me it’s just about enjoying myself, staying healthy and then we’ll see what happens.”

Federer made it a magnificent eight with victory over Cilic (Getty)

It appears, nevertheless, that there is one target in Federer’s mind. Today’s updated world rankings saw the Wimbledon champion climb two places into third, just 1,205 points behind Andy Murray, the world No 1.

Federer said that his world ranking would not generally be a priority at this stage of his career but suggested that being so close to returning to the top of the pile might have an influence on his plans for the rest of the year.

He has played only seven tournaments this year (in comparison Murray and Rafael Nadal have played 11 and Novak Djokovic 10), but because he has won two Grand Slam tournaments and two Masters Series events he is well placed to recapture the top spot for the first time since 2012. Having taken a break in the last six months of 2016 to rest his injured knee, Federer has no ranking points to defend between now and next year’s Australian Open.

However, Federer believes that the rankings system is weighted unfairly towards those players who reach the latter stages of tournaments. By winning Wimbledon, for example, he earned 2,000 ranking points, whereas those players who reached the third and fourth rounds earned just 180 and 360 points respectively. Djokovic, meanwhile, picked up only 250 points for winning the title at Eastbourne in the week before Wimbledon.

“I just feel like the gap’s too big,” Federer said. “It wasn’t always like that. It’s only been like this since a few years. To win eight ‘250’ tournaments to make up for a Slam, I just find it too much.

“That’s why by playing little and making so many points at Slam level, it puts me in a totally different situation where I can really start picking and choosing my moments when to attack.

“But again it is how it is. The good thing also is that the best player in the world should be the one also winning the biggest tournaments. That’s an aspect I also understand, that we have a lot of points in Masters 1000s, Slams and then also the World Tour Finals in particular.”

The Swiss believes that the rankings system is one of the reasons why it has been harder for young players to make their mark. “If a young guy wants to make a breakthrough, he can beat me or any top player, but if he doesn’t make a run to the final or win the tournament he’s not really making any move in the rankings,” he said.

Federer hopes that his own decisions to take six months off at the end of last year and to miss the 2017 clay-court season would not set a trend. “I hope I’m unique because I am 35, 36 years old and I’ve got four kids,” he said. “I didn’t just walk away from the game for six months last year just because I was in the mood to. I actually had to. There’s a big difference there.”

It was another magical fortnight at SW19 for Federer (AFP/Getty Images)

He added: “I feel like I have played too little this year. Because I won well at the beginning of the year it didn’t mean I was necessarily going to play well here. So for me to come up with the goods here is very gratifying.”

“I was leading from the get-go every single match here at the Championships. And, once you're in the lead, I'm a great front-runner. I never look back.

“I was unbelievably focused. It was a great performance for me on the mental side, to win the tournament after people told me I was the favourite going in, which to me was a bit too soon to be honest.”

Federer admitted that the next generation of players had not been strong enough to knock the “Big Four” off their perch. Murray, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic still occupy the top four places in the rankings.

He also believes that the slowing down of court surfaces has played a part in extending the status quo. He explained: “I do believe the depth in the men’s game is as great as it’s ever been, but because conditions play the way they do, maybe not super-fast like they used to, like back in the 80s, the margins are a bit bigger because of the surface speed and the ball speed and the racket technology.

“You have to hit a lot of good shots to come through a Murray or a Djokovic and especially over five sets. It catches up with you and it’s favourable for the top guys.”

Federer said it was “frightening” to see how few men play serve-and-volley today. He hopes that in future players will go to the net more, bringing more variation to the game. “I wish that we would see more coaches, more players taking chances up at net, because good things do happen there,” he said.