Reto Schmidli with a unique feat against Roger Federer: glasses against the GOAT

Reto Schmidli is now a police officer in Basel and far removed from Federer’s sporting successes. As a teenager, however, he managed to keep a clean sheet, a 6-0, 6-0 against the 20-time Grand Slam winner-to-be. “Some people in Switzerland still recognize me and ask: ‘Wasn’t it you who beat Federer 6-0, 6-0?’ It didn’t mean much at the time, although I’m proud now considering what has become of Roger over the years.”

However, the conditions between the two young people were not entirely fair. “There weren’t enough good players in his age group and he played me in a tournament even though he was only 10 years old in 1991.” Schmidli, on the other hand, was already 13 years old and physically a good deal further.

“I didn’t know anything about him at the time, although later I heard from a lot of people that he was a very technical player who showed promise,” Schmidli revealed to Marca.

When asked why Schmidli didn’t stick to a great tennis career after the win, the Federer conqueror explained: “I had a good serve and a good backhand, but I don’t think I had the talent to be a great player You have to want a lot for that and I didn’t have that motivation. I just loved playing tennis, but I didn’t train a lot, I played for fun. If I was on the court every day for two weeks, I had it fed up.”

But like many others, Schmidli is still a big fan of the tennis star. The two even met during a tournament in Basel. “I saw him once, I was at an indoor tournament in Basel, where he was present. He recognized me, but we didn’t talk about the competition,” explained the police officer.

Despite the different paths in life they have taken, one thing is certain: Schmidli can no longer take the feat of beating Federer without losing a game.