Roger Federer in the Clarin interview.
Hi, Roger Federer.. The boy, dressed in black jeans, a light blue t-shirt and a blue sports jacket with the sleeves rolled up, appeared first. Clarione in one of the rooms of the Buenos Aires hotel where he stayed in November 2019 with a broad smile and holding out his hand. Such an act of grandeur was necessary in front of a humble amateur tennis player (that day the reporter was left aside the moment he appeared) that he had always sworn that never during the exercise of his office would he ask for a photo or a autograph? to an athlete? It was that Swiss perfection and calmness needed in front of someone who just wanted to ask, ask and ask and never take their eyes off someone who was more an artist than an athlete, more an example than a real man in that moment? a few minutes we had to enjoy the man who became a legend together with Mauricio Codocea and Ariel Grinberg, the companions of that exclusive interview?
Roger Federer is one of the greatest of all time. And he is sitting at the table of the best athletes (He himself, in that note, named Schumacher, Ali, Jordan, Tom Brady, Borg, Pelé and Maradona among his favorites). He worked hard to get where he went. He has lost many times. Like all. But he had the merit of continuing. Like few. When he fell, he immediately got up. And so he built his story of him. He didn’t see defeat as a tragedy but as a lesson. So he always came out ahead as a champion. He has been at the top for a long time for reasons that he himself could never explain every time he was asked about his success with him.
In that speech he was happy to be back in Argentina. Years earlier he had played with Del Potro in Tigre; Now the German Alexander Zverev would be his opponent on a South American tour that smelled like goodbye even though he didn’t want to talk about it. He has only ensured that his priorities will be his family and his foundation. And he said something that illustrates it from head to toe:“I’m humble enough to start something from the lowest level. I don’t think that, because I play tennis well, I can do anything. “.
Impossible to say if he was the best tennis player of all because, for example, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic they outnumbered him in the Grand Slams. But without a doubt he was the one who played the best in all of history. If there is a tennis teacher in a club school anywhere in the world, he will surely take Federer’s shots as an example. His drive was wonderful; his slice backhand was unique and with the tops he improved it to near perfect over the years and most importantly when he changed the edge of his racquet; he had the best serve because he always put the ball where he wanted and always throwing it the same way; and his game from “T” onwards was unique. But his movements were wonderful and reading him from the back became a pillar of his game; he knew before his rival where the ball would go. He had sensitivity and did things no one even tried to do.
Ah … I asked for the photo, it is in a clearly visible corner of my house and I show it at every meeting with my friends …
Mariano Ryan
Source: Clarin
