- How Roger Feder.
er rode the ‘beautiful wave’ of tennis for 24 years
Roger Federer
Roger Federer, May 2024 Keystone / Ennio Leanza
Listen to the article
Toggle language selector
When Roger Federer sees pictures of himself playing tennis, he struggles to realise it is him. “It’s amazing to think that I used to be out there, on the biggest stages. It almost becomes surreal that this used to be my life.”
This content was published on
August 3, 2024 – 11:48
Other languages: 2
EN original
During his 24-year career, he explains, he was “in a tunnel, riding the beautiful wave, running around the world, running on the tennis court, battling, always trying to be alert, being ready for the next press conference, the next meet and greet, posing with a fan. So when all of a sudden you detach yourself, it almost feels like it wasn’t me.”
External Content
FT
Federer retired in 2022 aged 41, after winning 20 grand slam titles and lighting up tennis with his elegance on and off the court. He remains a gentleman, materialising with a smile on Zoom at the agreed minute for this interview. But having retired, he can now reflect on the forces that enabled his career. His reminiscences are aided by images from a slick new photo-biography, which chronicles his journey from racket-wielding blond child to shaggy-haired young pro to world’s best player, and his career-defining rivalry with Rafael Nadal. Federer has now achieved the distance to explain Federer.
“I didn’t grow up with people telling me I’m going to be the best player in the world. When I was 14, my God, I was still so far away from actually having that belief,” he says. He knew he had “some talent”, but his aim was just to make it to the tour and be on court with the stars.
Shot selection
His career began to skyrocket aged 15 when he won his first international junior tournament in Lille in 1997. The next turning point was winning the prestigious Orange Bowl tournament in Florida in 1998, and finishing the year as world junior number one. “I remember that on Key Biscayne we were at this house and I made a joke [about] how written on the door was, ‘Here lives the world number one.’ I remember secretly hoping this could also maybe happen one day on the pro tour.”
It did, but not straight away. He had to wait until the start of 2001 even to win his first senior title. Maturing as a player, Federer muses, was “all about shot selections. When you have too many options, it can be super-confusing because you don’t know which shot to pick. I think that’s why I had a tricky beginning to the career. And being a naturally attacking player I would sometimes go too big, too soon, instead of waiting that one more shot, or going 90% power instead of 95.”
He enjoys watching young players because they “go for crazy stuff and sometimes they get rewarded, sometimes they don’t. As you get older, you play the percentages more, and you realise what works against which player on which surface. You can’t explain it, it’
s just deep inside you.”
Leave a Reply