day 7 after Roger Federer. Tennis and life continue after the retirement of one of the greatest legends of the sport. The Swiss said goodbye in London supported by the people, his family and the best rivals, and at the same time friends, that he has had throughout his career. He finished the Making Cup and began his new life, that of a former professional tennis player.
“I lost my job, but I am very happy. I feel good and complete. I lost my last singles match [en Wimbledon 2021] and doubles. I lost my voice supporting the team. It ended up being a happy goodbye, but I never thought it would happen like this,” Federer joked this week in an interview on New York Times.
He is 41 years old and his body had long ago told him enough. Injuries insisted on blurring what Roger had achieved throughout his career. It was time to put an end to a story that will continue to be told as long as tennis exists. But what makes a winner of 20 Grand Slam when does he retire? “Now it’s time to sit down and see tennis from a different angle,” Federer replied.
[La historia de rivalidad y amistad entre Nadal y Federer: el duelo del siglo y un último baile juntos]
First, he will miss the circuit and everything he has worked for day after day since turning professional as soon as he turned 17. More than two decades doing the same thing, and now what? He says that he will not be “a ghost that disappears” and that he will find “a way to remain closely linked to this sport.”
Exits will have the ones he wants because that is how he has earned it. There are two cards on the table: dedicate yourself to communication and be a prophet of tennis at the microphones or pick up the racket again and spread his teachings to young people. He will think about it and, in the meantime, he will organize exhibition matches.
Roger on display
Just because Roger retired at the Laver Cup doesn’t mean it will be the last time he’ll be seen on a tennis court wearing his iconic headband. He will play ‘pachangas’ as almost all the myths of this sport have done, meeting with people from his fifth when they are retired or sharing time with stars of the moment.
Federer has already been part of moments like this. Impossible to forget the charity match that he and Rafa played together with Pete Sampras y Andre Agassi in 2010. Just like the time the Swiss and the Spanish played in Cape Town (South Africa) before 51,954 spectators, being the tennis match with the most public of all time. Or the famous ‘Battle of surfaces’, in 2007.
When talking about exhibitions, due to their friendly nature, one can give free rein to the imagination. Perhaps playing against his friend Nadal in that dream match at the Santiago Bernabéu and breaking the spectator record again, facing Carlos Alcaraz for the first and last time… The possibilities are endless and depend on Roger’s desire.
They will be specific events. I’m sure Roger will want to continue to spend most of his time with his family, which was completely at his farewell as a professional. He has four children with his wife Mirkawhom he met in the Sydney Olympics. She was a tennis player and there was a day when they came to play together in doubles, but a foot injury withdrew her in 2002. Since then she manages the foundation that bears her husband’s name and in which he also wants to focus from now on.
Do I jump to the microphones?
As for other career opportunities, Federer will be raffled off everywhere. He already said in a past interview that being a commentator was a possibility. There are many who have made that leap after retiring: John McEnroe is an example, just like here in Spain it is Alex Corretja. Roger will also have time to visit tournaments that marked his career, especially the Grand Slamand say goodbye to them.
In the medium term, the path is another. Because Federer speaks the language of tennis and will continue to do so. He admits himself unable to walk away from a sport to which he is “eternally grateful”, unlike what stars of previous generations did. He has the makings of a coach and not even weeks have passed before they ask him to be one.
show your style
Ivan Ljubicic, Federer’s coach late in his career, discovered that Roger had already had requests to train. It’s still early days, but everyone around him sees him taking the plunge sooner or later. He himself has recognized that it is an idea that has been on his mind for some time.
Roger could be a mentor in his country or an elite coach. Those who know him see him as the latter. Andy Murray said this about him these days: “I think it would be a challenge for him to train any tennis player because he would have to put himself in their shoes and know that for the rest of us mortals it is very difficult to play tennis, much more than it seems that be for him.”
Link with the Nadal Academy
There are specific places where the great players of tomorrow are concentrated and one of those is the Rafa Nadal Academyin Manacor. Federer knows her well. In 2016 she was present at her inauguration accompanying her friend. The anecdote was that Roger was impressed with the project when the Spaniard told him about it and wanted to go, but he did not receive the invitation until the last moment.
Federer attended the event, spoke in front of the people, visited the facilities and gave a clinic together with Nadal with the children of the first promotion of the academy. They gave only a few hits to the balls, since by then both were injured. That day the withdrawal of both was in the air, but Rafa gave Roger a gift that included a message reviewing their history together and ended like this: “To be continued…”. Only a few months later they surprised the world by starring in one of their best confrontations in the final of the Australian Open 2017.
Roger Federer, at the presentation of the Rafael Nadal academy
In the Rafa Nadal Academy there is a large black and white image of that final. The man from Manaco lost that day, but he wanted that image in the facilities to represent his relationship with the Swiss. The museum in the academy also has Roger’s pieces, such as the kit he wore in the historic final of Wimbledon or the racket with which he played that exhibition in South Africa. There are two suites in the residence: the Rafa Nadal suite and the Roger Federer suite.
The figure of the former Basel He is very present in the academy. The relationship has been maintained over the years, so much so that Federer has been a participant in several moments such as the graduation of the class of 2020 for which he sent a video. He will not take long to set foot on the premises again.
“I would like to teach tennis to young people at the Rafa Nadal Academy”
Roger and Rafa spoke during the Laver and the Swiss told his friend that next summer, in 2023, he would take his daughters to train at the academy. “We have already talked about it with Mirka,” he confessed in an interview on The Team. The Twins Myla y Charlene they are 13 years old and have recently become interested in tennis. The piano is his other passion. The little ones are the twins, Leo y Lenny8 years old, who have also aroused his curiosity about the racket.
The saga continues and who knows if Roger will one day train any of them. The Manacor academy seems like an ideal place: “I would like to teach tennis to young people. And I would like to do it with the Rafa Nadal Academy”, confessed the Swiss in 2019. The doors would be open in a place where they are so fond of him and there is a special link with his career and his legacy.
