Tags
gifts, inspiration, magazines, photography, Roger Federer, Switzerland, tennis, US Open Championship, words for thought
Finally it is the second week of the final Grand Slam of the year, as we see the enigmatic crowd grew with even stronger excitement, as well as the draws of the players become more intense as the days went by in Flushing Meadows. Staying up till 4am to watch the third round match of Roger versus Marin Cilic was worth it, as we saw Roger overcame the dangerous Croat in four sets (6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2). I enjoyed watching very much, (always) seeing Roger with all that positive energy in him. That always makes me that some time off, consciously or unconsciously, and give myself a moment or two to remind myself what a player Roger is. With grace, beauty and style adding to the wonderful person he already is. Once again, I feel inspired and moved by all that he has done. And clearly still, there is no finish line.
In this post, I wanted to post up some pictures of the exclusive special edition L’illustre magazine in conjunction of Roger’s 30th birthday last month. I received it a week ago from my Suisse friend who kindly posted it to me via airmail. He even included articles from the local newspaper and postcards of the city of Lausanne and a brochure of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors at Basel. I could not thank him enough for that, I know for sure.
Also I wanted to share some parts of interviews of Roger; new and old ones. I always get to learn so much more through reading his interviews and press conferences. Simply because he is a man which the journalists and interviewers love so much and he in return gave us so much through that. I like to always pick up small little details from there, sometimes not only solely about tennis career but also more about his personal self, the twins, Mirka and occasionally a few jokes. At times, I would say to myself, ‘Oh gosh, I do not know whether to smile or to cry!’ A soul like this truly exists? Well indeed, it exists. No measure of description is truly enough. You are just solely you. And I love every single part of you.
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Q. What do you think and dream in?
RF: I don’t dream much. (Laughter.) Honestly, I’m kind of happy about that, actually. Swiss German is my No. 1 language, and then English follows right after that. French is a bit trickier for me, but I guess when I do speak with a lot of French guys I start maybe thinking in French. I’m not sure. It’s just natural. I’m able to bounce around from language to language pretty easily, which I’m happy about.
Q. You’re obviously so fluid out there on the court, but also pretty fluent with languages. Can you just take a minute and just talk about language, compare the three different major languages you speak, which is the most expressive? What do you think in? Just talk about the different languages you speak.
RF: Well, I grew up speaking English and Swiss German, and then I don’t know, I don’t want to say my English got lost a bit, but obviously I was speaking only Swiss German at some point. For some reason I started speaking more English again with my mom, and then with my coaches, Peter Carter when he came to the tennis club. That’s kind of how I got my English back a bit. And then obviously touring at 14, I already had a solid base, and I think I was able to improve from there. And French I learned only when I was 14 years old for two years at school. I was never really afraid to make mistakes, I guess. That’s why my French is decent today. Makes my workdays a bit longer, you know, at the press. (Laughter.) I was just speaking to Ferrero about the press, and he couldn’t belive that I’m doing almost one hour of press after matches every time. And he is a former world No. 1. It got me into some problems I guess, too, to speak so many languages. But honestly it’s very nice to be able to couicate with everybody almost at all times, really. That’s quite nice. So I’m happy I was able to learn these languages and speak them pretty well.
Q. How much tennis do you watch when you’re not playing?
RF: When I’m on vacation, none. When I’m at home, none. When I’m at tournaments, I watch a lot. That’s kind of how it is.
Q. Your girls are two now. What’s it like to see them pick up a racquet and imitate dad?
RF: They’re not quite there yet. And they don’t try to imitate me either, or it doesn’t look like it. They try hard, but they get discouraged after 30 seconds. They just, okay, pick up the doll that’s in the room instead. I’m happy about that. But who knows? Maybe in the next six months I think there’s gonna be a lot of changes, they going to get much more into activities. They love their swimming and so forth. I’m happy to seeing them, you know, enjoying the sports.
Q. If they want to become tennis players, are you gonna say yes to that?
RF: I won’t say no. We’ll see how it’s gonna go. I have no idea. At the moment, they’re not gonna be, but who knows?
Q. McEnroe said this about you: ‘One of the important things [Federer] has over everyone, and he has it more than any other player I’ve seen since Connors, is his love for the sport. Real love. He loves to be out there, to be around tennis, everything about it . . . There is none of the angst that I had, no demons playing with him’. Can you explain that love?
RF: Well, I’m a positive person, a very positive thinker,” he replies. “That’s why I like the more positive approach of ‘I love winning’, because to hate losing, to me, is a bit negative. I guess my love for the sport started as a little boy watching Becker and Edberg facing off in the Wimbledon final. I dreamed about it but I never thought it would happen to me. It’s so difficult to keep winning and to keep your love for the game because of all the travelling and the sacrifices, but I just said, ‘I’m not going to let that happen to me. I’m going to take a positive approach that travelling is great and that I’m going to see different cultures and places I would never see if I wasn’t a tennis player’. My wife loves it. I love it, so ‘let’s have a good time because it’s not going to last until I am 70’. And so far that approach has worked for me.
Q: This rivalry with Nadal is fascinating. You sent him a text message later that year to congratulate him when he won in Madrid (2009), and spent time with him this year in Basel. When is the last time you sent him a text?
RF: When he got injured this year. He congratulated me for winning Paris, and I sent back a message saying I hoped he was going to be okay when he pulled out of Wimbledon. But we see each other quite often because I’m president of the players’ council and he’s vice-president, so we have a lot of stuff to talk about.
Q: The question, I suppose, is your changing mindset as your goals continue to evolve. In 2003, it was almost enough to have won Wimbledon. In 2009, you’ve just failed to win a 14th major and it’s: ‘God, this is killing me’.
RF: That quote . . . was seen the wrong way. The thing that was killing me was having to talk while crying. What I meant was, ‘I wish I could stop crying and could talk normally and give Rafa the stage he deserves and not make everybody feel so bad [for me]’. This was upsetting me more than having lost the match. The last thing I wanted was for people to feel bad for me. I played a great tournament. I was happy with the way I played. I wish I would have won, but I had to accept, and accepted without a problem, that Rafa was better on that day. So it was [misinterpreted].
I left the court and went on holiday and came back and heard all these things like, ‘He started crying . . . He’s gone . . . This is it . . . The downfall’, and I was like, ‘What?’ I have been crying after losing matches since I was five years old, so to have cried after the loss of a Grand Slam final was normal for me, but there was this big fuss that I didn’t understand. It was almost amusing how it was taken out of proportion.
Q: The year was special for other reasons. You got married in April. You were dating for nine years. Why did it take you so long?
RF: I started dating Mirka when I was young. I was only a teenager, but the last three or four years it was something we talked about openly. I knew it was not going to be possible in 2008 with the Olympics, so I just said, ‘From 2009, I am ready for whatever you want . . . marriage, kids, whatever’. So it all came together and I’m very happy. We had a beautiful wedding and the kids are healthy. I couldn’t have hoped for more.
Q: Does it change anything? Does marriage and fatherhood change anything?
RF: Yes. I feel more proud when Mirka says ‘husband’. I like it better when I can say, ‘[this is] my wife’. I always thought ‘girlfriend’ was cute, and I loved it, but ‘wife’ to me just sounds so much more serious and better. It goes way beyond what I thought as a teenager that marriage would be. And the babies . . . phew [exhales], that just gives a different dimension to life. To see the fire in the eyes of my wife, waking up 15 times a night if she has to . . . to see that and knowing what she would do for me, knowing what she would do for them, is very emotional.
Q: Where do you see yourself now in terms of your career? Have you reached the downward curve?
RF: I’m midway. It feels like the second part of my career right now, although I am trying to avoid saying that because the second part sounds like ‘neehhhhrrrrr’ [motions straight down]. You can definitely play your greatest tennis until 32 or 33, it’s just a matter of how you look at it. I’ve always been a big believer in looking at the big picture. It’s not about, ‘What will we do tomorrow?’, it’s about, ‘How will my life and tennis look in the next five years?’ And I still have the same vision, so that’s going to help me.
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These are just a few interesting ones I read today itself, let alone thousands of them out there. Roger did said himself that the spent one hour for every after match conference. There were many great ones too that I have read in the past.
So here are the pictures, some of them. If you wish to have a clearer view, kindly click on the pictures.
I included these pages of birthday messages written by other tennis players. They are also other famous personalities that have written theirs but I did not upload them here.
The first black and white picture is definitely one of the most precious and it is my favorite. I could not stand but to have some tears when I first laid my eyes on that picture.
Below: Roger with Peter Carter and his parents Robert and Lynette, Roger as a ballboy when he was young at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors at Basel.
Top to bottom: Roger and Mirka at the 2002 Hopman Cup, photo shoot at Dubai in 2007 and their wedding on 11th April 2009.
Some photo shoots and both of them at the New York fashion week.
Some local articles in French during Roger’s 30th birthday this year.
That’s all for today, with love.
