Two days later, I was the only English-speaking journalist in the first Swiss team news conference of the week in Lille. But Wawrinka had been very unhappy with what Mirka had been shouting from the stands during the match, and the two exchanged more than a few words in the locker room afterwards. The previous Saturday night, at the ATP Finals in London, Federer had survived four match points to beat his Swiss team-mate Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals. Interviewing Federer was invariably a pleasure - albeit with perhaps one exception, just a few days before that Davis Cup final. A world record tennis crowd of 27,448 crammed in under the retractable roof of Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille to see Federer win the famous team competition for the one and only time. The French crowds were desperate for him to win that Roland Garros final against Robin Soderling, and many seemed conflicted when Switzerland took on France in the Davis Cup final of 2014. None perhaps more special than winning his one and only French Open, in 2009, to become only the sixth man in history (at that stage) to complete the career Grand Slam. A switch to a larger racquet a couple of years previously was now paying dividends, offering him more power and spin, and more success against Nadal, whom he beat in the final.Īn eighth Wimbledon title followed in the summer, a 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne the following January, and if Djokovic had not been able to save two championship points on Centre Court in the Wimbledon final of 2019, Federer would have become the oldest player to win a Grand Slam in the Open era. Most remarkable of all was his run to the 2017 Australian Open title, achieved by beating four top-10 players and winning three matches over five sets, despite being 35 and missing the previous six months because of knee surgery.įederer was playing with a refurbished knee - and backhand. But the autumnal years of his career also had a golden hue. He won 16 of the 27 Grand Slam tournaments played in that time (and reached the final of another six). Mirka Federer (centre) regularly watched husband Roger in action at Wimbledonįederer's most golden spell was between Wimbledon 2003 and the Australian Open of 2010. Mirka's career was ended by a foot injury later that year, but she swiftly became the "rock" in his life. They both represented Switzerland at that year's Sydney Olympics, and played mixed doubles together at the 2002 Hopman Cup. The partnership has endured for Federer's entire career.Īnd he also met Mirka, who would become his wife nine years later. He started working with the fitness coach Pierre Paganini, whom he had first met at the Swiss national training centre a few years earlier. But two new relationships forged in 2000 made quite a difference. I struggled with that in a big way when I was younger."įederer also struggled with his fitness and his temper - racquet throwing, tears and profanities were not at all uncommon in his teenage years. I couldn't understand how they would get match ready day in day out, practise every single day and how they would give it 100%. "I would marvel at what they did when I was younger. "I get inspired in a big way by the likes of Usain Bolt or Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Valentino Rossi or Michael Schumacher: guys who did things for a very long time at the highest of levels," he told me after winning an eighth Wimbledon title, a month before turning 36, in 2017. Quiz: How much do you know about Federer at Grand Slams?. 'A tennis great who reached sporting perfection'.Federer to team up with Nadal for final match.The Sports Desk podcast: The real Roger Federer.It is just that since then Federer and Serena Williams, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic now following their lead, have overturned convention and expectation. Not that it was remotely controversial, nine years ago, to suggest the best days of a tennis player in their thirties might be behind them. Put it down, perhaps, to the impetuosity of inexperience, and also to unawareness of a significant back problem, which Federer later detailed.
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