Adored by some, respected by all, Roger Federer drew a line, Saturday, on nearly 25 years of an exceptional career in tennis by bowing to the Laver Cup, in London, during a farewell ball in doubles with his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal. Both champions were beaten by the American pair of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
The debate on the best player in history is endless, but by his record, his brilliant game, his elegance and his charisma, Roger Federer will remain as the undisputed master of world tennis.
He bowed out on Saturday, September 24, in front of a full house, playing his last doubles match, associated with Rafael Nadal.
A few minutes after the end of the match which ended his 25-year career, Friday evening in London, Roger Federer assured that he was “not sad” but “happy”, despite the emotion that left him overwhelmed, especially when talking about his family.
“We’re going to get there one way or another, eh?”, he slipped, his throat tight, to former player Jim Courrier, who questioned him on the court and in front of the public. on his first feelings as a former professional tennis player.
“I’m happy, I’m not sad”
“It’s been a wonderful day, I told the guys, I’m happy, I’m not sad, it’s wonderful to be here,” he said, despite his already bright eyes.
“I was not so stressed,” he said, although after a year and a half without playing and with a right knee that forced him to retire, at 41, he feared “a calf glitch or a locked back during the match, so I’m really happy to have finished it”, despite losing 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 9-11, in doubles with his rival and friend Rafael Nadal, against the Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe, for the Laver Cup, an annual match between Europe and the Rest of the World, which he helped to create.
Reflecting on his exceptional career, he assured that he would “do it again without changing anything”.
“It should never have been like this, I just loved playing tennis and spending time with my friends. I never thought it would end here, it’s been a perfect run.”
Tribute to his wife
The hardest thing for him was to talk about his family present in the stands.
“Do we really have to go through this?”, he asked, before changing his mind, “no, it’s okay, I’m not doing too badly so far, I have the impression, at least I can talk. In my visions, I couldn’t even talk,” he joked.
He notably paid tribute to his wife, Mirka, whom he met 22 years ago, who “supported him so much”.
“She could have stopped me a long, long time ago. But she didn’t, she let me go and allowed me to go on, it was amazing, thank you,” he said. he managed to slip before being overcome by sobs.
Since announcing his retirement, “Pistol” Pete (Sampras), the Las Vegas Kid (Andre Agassi) and the Manacor Bull (Rafael Nadal) have bowed to the master.
“Hi Roger, it’s Pistol (…). When we faced each other for the first time, you were only 19 years old (…). We fought a big battle on the Center Court of Wimbledon and you beat me in five sets,” recalled Sampras, whose public appearances have been extremely rare since leaving the circuit in 2002, but who split a video on social media to salute the retirement of the Swiss.
“Your game and your spirit taught us how beautiful the game of tennis could be (…). Thank you RF”, complimented Agassi.
Your game and spirit taught us how beautiful tennis can be played, @RogerFederer. Every moment you shared has left us all better off.
Thank you, RF ????????
— Andre Agassi (@AndreAgassi) September 16, 2022
“He’s one of, if not the most important player in my career,” said Nadal, the record holder of Grand Slam titles (22), before playing doubles alongside him the last match of the Swiss, whose counter will remain blocked at 20 Majors, also exceeded by Novak Djokovic (21).
But in hearts, he will remain number one almost everywhere. At Wimbledon, his favorite playground where he won eight times, at Roland-Garros where the public was relieved to see him complete his collection of Grand Slams in 2009, and in all the tournaments where his fans supported him unconditionally. .
Federer had all the attributes of the ideal champion. And above all a game like no other, aesthetic, offensive, exciting.
“There are people who followed tennis without liking tennis, to watch Federer,” noted former Swiss number one Marc Rosset.
The opposition of style with Rafael Nadal has made their rivalry a legend, coupled with a friendship that has never wavered.
For Nadal, “everything is perfect at home”
“He has a perfect serve, a perfect volley, a more than perfect forehand, a perfect (one-handed) backhand; he is very fast, everything is perfect at home,” Nadal summed up.
Outside the courts, the Swiss is also a kind of ideal son-in-law: in love for more than twenty years with the same woman, Mirka Vavrinec, a former tennis player of Slovak origin whom he met at the Sydney Games in 2000, caring father of four children (twins and twins), engaged in charitable work, especially in South Africa, the country of origin of his mother, the friend of Tiger Woods is almost unanimous.
Even among those he martyred on the court. “I wish I could hate you, but you’re too nice,” Roddick told her after a Wimbledon final.
The Swiss has always liked to “give the image of a good person”, including taking care of his communication during endless interview sessions granted without hesitation in the four languages he masters (Swiss German, English, French , German).
His track record is huge. To the titles of the Grand Slam, we must add six Masters, a Davis Cup and an Olympic gold medal (in doubles with Stan Wawrinka), the gold of the singles remaining the only important trophy which he lacks. In total, he won 103 titles on the ATP Tour and spent 310 weeks in the first place in the world, a record that Djokovic has since spectacularly increased to 373.
Certainly, the talent was detected early in this boy born in Basel in 1981. But this “rough diamond to polish”, according to his own expression, had to repress a dilettante side and a tendency to swing his racket when things were not turning out. as he wanted.
Late maturity, exceptional longevity
For this reason, he had to wait until his sixth year on the circuit to lift his first major trophy, on the lawn of Wimbledon in 2003, at almost 23 years old.
That achievement in the tournament he treasures most marked the start of a feast of Grand Slam titles: eleven – out of a possible 16 – from 2004 to 2007. The competition then, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick in the front row , is crushed.
Things will get tougher when Nadal and Djokovic mature, but Federer will continue to win and the legend will be enriched with epic matches, such as the two Wimbledon finals of 2007 (won) and 2008 (lost) against the Spaniard. On the decline (temporarily) from 2011, he signed a breathtaking return to the fore in 2017 and 2018, and added to his collection three Grand Slam titles to finish with eight Wimbledon, six Australian Open, five US Open and a Roland-Garros.
Of a seemingly ordinary physique (1.85 m) but endowed with exceptional qualities of speed and endurance, he had the advantage of being almost never injured until he was over 35 years old. He underwent his first operation, on a knee, in 2016, after injuring himself… bathing his daughters.
Inhabited by an inexhaustible thirst for victories, he approached longevity records – his last title at the Australian Open had made him the second oldest winner of a Grand Slam tournament behind Ken Rosewall – when his knee recalcitrant put an end to his fabulous epic, at 41, after more than 1,500 matches over more than 24 years.
With AFP
