‘He will always remain the most popular tennis player in the world’

The announced farewell to Roger Federer was not entirely unexpected – the Swiss celebrated his 41st birthday last month and had to postpone his return after another knee operation – but was greeted with nostalgia. Inside and outside the tennis world. In the Netherlands too.

“I had secretly hoped that he would play at Wimbledon one more time,” says Volkskrant journalist Robèrt Misset, who followed tennis for years and had a lot to do with the Swiss. “But I knew it should have happened this year. He’s been struggling with his knee for a while, huh. So it wasn’t really a surprise.”

“My first thought was: Wimbledon 2019, why didn’t you win it, Roger?!!!”, Misset recalls the final against Novak Djokovic, in which Federer lost two match points on his own service. “Then he would have been on 21 grand slam titles. Unfortunately, it is no different.”

Rafael Nadal tops the list with 22 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic follows with 21 titles.

Tennis coach Tjerk Bogtstra lets his memory go back to 1998, when he accompanied Jan Siemerink during the tournament in Toulouse. His pupil, who would eventually take the title, faced 17-year-old Federer in the quarterfinals.

“At the time, he was still a fairly unknown player to me, although he was number one in the world rankings for juniors.”

“I had only seen him for the first time the round before. What struck me then was, of course, that he was a talented boy, who could do everything, but was also quite rambunctious and restless. And also not as mentally stable as he was later on. Jan won that match. It was really a junior against an arriving tennis pro. That was my first encounter with Federer.”

Former professional tennis player and current Davis Cup captain Paul Haarhuis regularly made a good impression with the matches he played against Federer.

“When I go somewhere in the Netherlands, as a totally unknown oldie for those very young tennis players, I always say: I’ve played against such a Swiss three times in the past who is actually very good – you know him : Federer – and I won three times. Then suddenly they start to listen to me very well: oh, he will understand. I just never say that it was in doubles.”

Haarhuis can still remember the young Federer. “I mainly remember him from the early days as a very friendly and incredibly nice young guy who came on the tour. But with weapons, with balls that you say: unbelievable that he still conjures them up like that. We had the feeling that that boy could really do something special. But nobody expected ten grand slams, and twenty certainly not.”

Bogtstra met Federer again in early 2003, then as coach of the Dutch Davis Cup team that competed against Switzerland in Arnhem. “He was already world top then. He also won Wimbledon that year. He was already playing so much better and more mature.”

“I was trying to think of how one of our players could beat him. Raemon Sluiter had lost very close to him the year before in Rosmalen. So you had the idea: maybe he has a chance, but he was blown off the track enormously. .”

Painful of course, such a beating, but the enthusiast in Bogtstra was never far away. “I can remember sitting on the side coaching players, but at the same time you were almost there as a supporter and enjoying the game he showed. You were occasionally inclined to applaud the opponent from your player. You saw so many beautiful things and great tennis from him.”

As quickly as he developed as a tennis player, Federer also managed to shake off the heady of his early years. “As a junior, he was quite an explosive guy, who could also throw his racket and scold quite a bit,” Bogtstra knows. “He wasn’t that balanced then, which he was incredibly good later on. He has become such a terrible personality.”

Misset and Haarhuis recognize that. The reporter also experienced the tennis player during press conferences. “This man has given tennis a new dimension through his genius: he makes a difficult sport like tennis look easy. But he also had the elegance and grace with which he plays in his press conferences. He is the man who always seeks harmony and is calm and friendly. He often came to chat with you too.”

Misset: “Federer was not the man of the controversial statements. No Kyrgios or Djokovic. Always so completely normal, while he is an absolute great. But he never radiated that himself. That made him the greatest ambassador of the sport. When you realize that the man has been voted the most favorite tennis player by the public for 20 years. Wherever that man went, the public was always behind him and wanted him to win.”

Marcella Mesker, former tennis player and nowadays tennis commentator for the NOS, among others, is still clearly envisioning such a victory. “The most beautiful match I ever got to beat was the final at Roland Garros between Federer and Robin Söderling. Not because it was such a beautiful match, but because of the history and the emotion.”

“Federer won his fourteenth Grand Slam title, equaled the record of American Pete Sampras and finally completed his career Grand Slam. With a trembling voice I could just frame the Swiss party in a few words.”

Misset is happy to recall the 2017 Australian Open final. “Federer had a very negative statistic against Nadal; he was behind 23-11 at one point. But in Melbourne he actually grabbed Nadal with his own weapons. He started taking the ball even faster, even earlier after the bounce, which was technical “It’s very difficult. But he made it look so easy. You saw that Nadal was always one step too late.”

“On 4-3 fifth set there was a rally of 26 strokes. The point of the match and one of the most beautiful points ever, I think. In that rally they are both attacker and defender at the same time. And then Federer comes with that phenomenal forehand , hit almost out of nowhere, down the line. Nobody sees that ball, Nadal doesn’t see it either. Federer makes the point and really hits Nadal in the heart there. And wins that match.”

Misset: “And then those tears. From that man with his rebirth, at the age of 35. You hear that TV commentator Marcella Mesker also gets emotional. And I had that myself. I was watching TV, I followed it for the newspaper. Yes, I also had tears in my eyes. I make no secret of that. Everyone knows that I am a huge Federer fan.”

There is no question for Misset who is the greatest tennis player of all time. “Of course, Nadal has 22 Grand Slam titles, if you take that as a yardstick he is number one. But Federer has given the sport a new dimension and really lifted it with his charisma, but especially the beauty of his game.”

“He also showed that you can always reinvent yourself as a person, even if you think you have reached the limit. That makes him the greatest tennis player of all time in my opinion.”

Haarhuis agrees, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “Purely in numbers, Nadal and Djokovic have surpassed him. But he is a sports ambassador who has drawn the most fans to tennis over the past twenty years. He will forever remain the most popular tennis player in the world, even if Djokovic wins 12 more grand slams, Federer will always be the greatest.”

Bogtstra also fully agrees with this. “The magisterial he has is of course exceptional, but what I mainly take as a coach is the personality he was, on the track, but also off it. That is, I think, the best thing about this sportsman: he is not only one of the best tennis players, but also the greatest sportsman. He is incredibly highly regarded.”