The Swiss Maestro, in an interview with El Paìs, analyzed the importance of the emotional side in his life.
“In perspective, I feel very happy not to have held back, to have been able to share all those emotions with people and also with myself, because in a certain sense, having lived those moments with such intensity, it’s as if I could go back in time.”
And who can forget all that hurricane of emotions that unleashed Roger Federer’s farewell? The Swiss Maestro himself said it, in the words I reported above, which Roger gave in an interview with El Paìs. The Swiss, in the interview, talked about the emotional side of him, which was often seen on the court. On the occasion of his farewell in 2022 on the O2 Arena in London, Federer released all his emotions, both with the crowd, with his rivals and with his wife Mirka. Roger explained in the interview how he feels good about himself in sharing emotions, revealing how he has cried on several occasions, such as at the birth of his children.
“Crying after losing matches is a classic, we all know that junior phase; but doing it after winning was crazy. After my first victory I couldn’t even speak, for everything it meant to me. I remember the match against Sampras in 2001 and the Davis Cup the same year, when I won my three points against the Americans. I cried a lot then and now again, so it’s like, what’s happening? If I didn’t fight, I would cry all the time, so I guess I am I’m a very emotional person. I also did it when my children were born, because it changes the way I see life and things,” he revealed.
Roger has been retired for almost two years now but fans from all over the world still remember his class, his victories and all the emotions he gave to sports lovers. In an interview with Extra The King, the Swiss analyzed his retirement which, as we know, will be serialized by Prime Video in a series dedicated to him starting from June 20th.
“I always thought that my career could end at any moment due to injury and in my head I always said: It’s just tennis.
Every time I won a match or a tournament I tried to remember it, I knew it could be the last time. You always have to make a life beyond tennis because in the end there will always be a moment when you are no longer a tennis player. This mentality helped me a lot and certainly aided my process towards saying goodbye to this sport. After the retreat everything went as planned, I can say it was fantastic. It’s true, I’ve been unlucky with knee problems but this has helped me recently understand what my life would have been like without tennis.
I spend more time at home, I have four children, two sets of twins aged 14 and 10 and we have a lot of fun. We have traveled all over the world, we have fun and of course I help them with school and this part of my life is wonderful. To the young Roger I would say to prepare for a fantastic life, many times in the spotlight and a life where I will have a lot of fun. I am happy to have managed to last so long in front of the tennis public and on the most important courts in the world. I honestly don’t think about the past, I think my career was better than I expected, I won a lot and I’m happy,” he told.
Meanwhile, Federer received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Dartmouth University last Sunday where he gave a moving speech to 11,000 people about what talent means.
“Throughout my career I was complimented because my tennis didn’t show any effort and it almost seemed like I wasn’t sweating. It’s not true, I worked hard to make my tennis easy, I spent years swearing before I kept calm and the truth is that I didn’t get where I am with pure talent, I got there by trying to overcome my opponents and believing in myself. It’s not about having a gift but rather you have to have grit and courage. In tennis as in life, discipline is a talent. And so is having patience. I left school at 16 to play tennis full time.
I never went to college and I can say I majored in tennis. The correct wording is retired from tennis but this word is horrendous, I’m simply done with an important journey and I’m moving on to the next thing. Many people ask me what I do after tennis and the reality is that I don’t know and it’s okay not to know. I’m a dad who plays and lives with my daughters, I enjoy life as a tennis graduate and today I want to share some lessons with you all. Having self-confidence is a talent, embracing and loving the process are talents. In short, dressing your life is part of a talent,” he explained.