Roger Federer actually did it. And that is what so many competitive athletes struggle with for years and often fail in the end: with the difficult decision of when the right time has come to end your career.
The American veteran Andre Agassi once put this dilemma in a nutshell: “When you stop, you go with the certainty that you will never again master anything as well as this in your entire life.” This here, playing tennis So, that has been the focus of life from a young age. To which everything else was subordinated. You have to give that up.
Letting go is not easy. There is this fear of an inner emptiness in post-tennis life, of not finding a new meaning for one’s own existence. And that allows some to delay the inevitable end so far that at some point it hurts to watch him constantly losing to mediocre opponents.
Federer Festival
However, there is no fear that Federer will damage his own monument as one of the best tennis players in history and dare to make a comeback. The body of the soon to be 42-year-old Swiss would no longer play along. Especially not his knee. But although wear and tear brought him the end of his career, Federer is at peace with himself.
“For me, the step was a salvation,” says Federer at the tournament in Halle, Westphalia, which he has won ten times and to which he has now traveled to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the grass event. But actually the fans only flocked to Halle in droves on Roger-Federer-Allee to celebrate him again. And they did.
So warm and roaring that Federer had to shed a few tears after his promise “we’ll see each other again”. It was always a Federer Festival, they loved their Roger here like no other. And Federer has always loved tennis, but in the final stages of his career it became more and more of a torture for his body.
Crowd favorite in Halle: Roger Federer : Image: dpa
“The stress fell off me like a burden,” describes Federer, “that was a great relief for me. No longer having to train with your knee and having to be ready for a match on day x.” Everyday life on the tennis tour, which had determined his life for 24 years, is over.
After 20 Grand Slam titles, 1251 matches won, 103 tournament wins and 310 weeks at the top of the world rankings, Federer is now only on the tennis court with his four children. More is not possible. “It’s a lot of fun for us,” says Federer. But has his talent also been inherited? “No,” says Federer, and has to laugh. But at nine years old, his twin boys still have some time to develop.
It just doesn’t work without tennis
Federer also wants to take his time, in about a year, “to see where the journey should go for me”. Travel is the keyword. After decades of packing suitcases and living as a nomadic, the Swiss cosmopolitan has never gotten tired of being on the move. “We’ve been on great trips recently with friends and family,” says Federer, “and I took a trip on the Orient Express with my parents.” Jetting around the world just for fun, Federer has thoroughly enjoyed it over the past few months. A trip to Formula 1 in Miami, to the New York Knicks basketball team, to Paris Fashion Week or to a fishing trip – now the family is in charge.
With Federer you have the feeling that he is interested in everything and everyone. One who manages many things seemingly effortlessly and who lends a certain nonchalance and elegance to everything he does. The concern that players like Agassi had at the time seems foreign to Federer. Because not only his family gives him support, he ranks ninth in the famous Forbes list of the best-earning athletes in 2022 with income of 94 million euros – and that as a tennis pensioner.
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Federer has long been successful in many business areas. There is hardly a company on the planet that would not like to work with him. In any case, Federer can hardly save himself from inquiries. His foundation alone has received 1,200 since his resignation. “That was my own fault,” says Federer with a laugh, “I always said to many: ‘Get in touch when I’ve stopped.’ Now the wave is coming in.”
But the tennis star, who has long since become a global brand, doesn’t just look like the nice man next door. His commitment is not artificial, and so he actually tries to answer the wave of inquiries. The fact that he takes his time with everything seems to do him good. He will not comment on tennis matches for the time being, he makes that clear, but he would like to do exhibition fights later when his knee plays along again. Federer is still on the ball. “I never thought that the tennis results would interest me so much – but I definitely check them three or four times a day.” It just doesn’t work without tennis.