Roger Federer Forum
Only members can read the topics or post on this forum.

Please login or register as a new member. It's free... and may you find some old friends!
Roger Federer Forum
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

General Interviews 2017-2018

+19
RMGuillot
wcr
Sherl
striker
cornnn92
Luvfedtenis
UES
Márcia
vrazkar
Cromar
avasbar
anutam
LaRubia
Rufus1
Aprilp20n
ph∞be
mariah1
Vinnie
Steerpike60
23 posters

Page 3 of 7 Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7  Next

Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by UES Sun May 21, 2017 5:45 pm

I think at the time he did the interviews he was hoping to play but after the clay practice he and his team decided it woudn't be worth it.

I am operating under the idea that from now on he could pull out of any tournament at any time this year, with the exception of Wimbledon and the US Open. Not because he wants to but because he will feel he has to in order to prolong his playing career for a few more years.

UES

Posts : 1103
Join date : 2017-01-28

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by cornnn92 Sun May 21, 2017 8:38 pm

UES wrote:I think at the time he did the interviews he was hoping to play but after the clay practice he and his team decided it woudn't be worth it.

I am operating under the idea that from now on he could pull out of any tournament at any time this year, with the exception of Wimbledon and the US Open.  Not because he wants to but because he will feel he has to in order to prolong his playing career for a few more years.

Unfortunately I'm not so sure as far as the USO is concerned... The only certainty is him playing Wimby - he did last year when  totally unfit and had to take six months off as a result... Everything else, even Basel, is up in the air... As for prolonging his career for a few more years, look, I don't know... If he was 30 or 32 I would totally understand but he's nearly 36... I honestly can't see him play beyond 2018, even with a reduced schedule.
cornnn92
cornnn92

Posts : 349
Join date : 2017-01-25

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by striker Sun May 21, 2017 8:54 pm

I don't think Roger is worrying about prolonging his career, hes not into tennis right now. Hes doing so many outside activities that tennis is taking a back seat!! When the RF,Com site was so abruptly closed it was a hint at what was to come. Even his message on his new site did not say "Dear Fans". We were so spoiled by him for years. I love him to pieces & always will but I'm preparing myself. Miss all the folks from the old site!!! Crying
>>BUT am very grateful for this one cause everyone else is on FB!! THANK YOU!!!!
striker
striker

Posts : 1392
Join date : 2017-02-05

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Sherl Sun May 21, 2017 9:01 pm

^^^There was an interview with Luthi and Roger also said - I think it was after Miami? - that he would be playing a full grass and HC season. The only thing up in the air was really the clay, so if all goes well we will see him from Stuttgart to the USO!
Sherl
Sherl

Posts : 1503
Join date : 2017-01-26
Location : Brazil

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by ph∞be Sun May 21, 2017 9:15 pm

I think I am still really sad about the RF forum. For many of us who choose not to be part of FB or Twitter this was a very special place. However, I do remember someone saying that it was a business decision re the people who managed the forum. Perhaps there were also liability issues as we (me included) were rather forthright about our opinions of RN and others.

But shutting down his forum is not an indication that he is ready to retire. Perhaps he will let his body and his family decide. And he has a right to do that. Without explanations. He owes us nothing.
ph∞be
ph∞be

Posts : 2096
Join date : 2017-01-29

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by cornnn92 Tue May 30, 2017 4:26 pm

General Interviews 2017-2018 - Page 4 R212658_1600x800cc

Once More With Feeling
Two decades into his legendary career, Roger Federer is playing with a newfound freedom -- and having way too much fun to quit now.
by Kurt Streeter

05/30/17

Ah, s---, it's all happening again."

Roger Federer remembers the moment, the word, with painful clarity. "Again."

He was down 3-1 in the fifth set of the 2017 Australian Open final, losing to Rafael Nadal, his career kryptonite. Nadal, who was 6-0 against Federer in grand slams since 2008, pounded forehands at him. Federer felt his legs go heavy. Then heavier. He started talking to himself. "I recall saying, 'You have to try to break now, pal, because later on he is going to stay in the lead and have the break, and then too much luck is involved to turn the whole thing around.'"

More than any player in the modern era, Roger Federer has made the game look easy. Federer, the graceful. Federer, the perfect. Federer, the ideal tennis player. It's what makes him so intoxicating to watch. It's what inspires a near literal traveling church of Roger Federer faithful at ATP events. But what looks easy comes with a soundtrack, an internal monologue, and in that monologue, the greatest male tennis player of all time will sometimes grind hard, full of doubt and pressure and frustration, wrestling with history and ambition, fearful of coming up short.

"Oh, s---, he's got me at the finish line," Federer said to himself.

He struggled to calm down. He kept talking, tried to stay positive: "I told myself, 'I've done very little wrong. I've played committed. I've played bigger with my backhand than I ever have against Rafa. I've hit a lot of backhand winners.'"

He was resetting, centering himself in the middle of a free fall. And somewhere in the conversation between Federer and Federer he found the calm he was seeking. This was an unlikely final to be in, coming off a left knee injury at age 35, and the boisterous crowd was with him. He fed on its energy. He remembers it now as some combination of Zen and excitement. "A different mindset," he says. Instead of getting shaky, he got energized. Instead of reproducing an old pattern, he found something new. "I had the best 20 minutes of my life, maybe, on the tennis court," he says. "I just zoned in and just went ..." He lifts his right hand and mimics a jet taking off. It climbs higher and higher, and then it flies away.

Federer is sitting at a long, lacquered table in a private dining room at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle. He is tanned and wears a black Nike top and black Nike sweats. He sits up in his chair, unspooling the moment in Melbourne, excited at the memory of it. "What I was telling myself is 'Play free,'" he says. "'Don't feel like you're in a straitjacket. Feel like you have nothing to lose, maybe for one of the first times.'"

With Federer serving for the match, Nadal made one last charge, earning two break points and threatening to take back momentum. Federer kept talking to himself, urging himself on: "Just keep not thinking too much about the what-ifs ... the pressure, the moment. I know it's huge, we all know it's huge, but just try to shake it off. Don't freeze up. Fight, but don't try too hard and want it too much."

He looks out the hotel-room window toward Puget Sound. The sky is clear and blue. "Just like Switzerland," he says. Snow-covered mountains rise in the distance. The view is scarred by an unsightly gray power plant. He looks past it to the water and the white peaks.

"I let go," he says.

General Interviews 2017-2018 - Page 4 R212641_2_608x328cc

By winning the Australian Open this year, Roger Federer padded his lead over his two active rivals -- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic -- on the career Grand Slam titles leaderboard.

THE 20 MINUTES in Melbourne have changed the tone and shape of the last phase of Roger Federer's career.

For as long as he keeps playing tennis, he says, he will seek the feeling he found on that night. He is closing in on two decades as a professional, a record career that includes 18 grand slams, but winning the Australian after a nearly five-year major tournament drought -- and against a legion of critics who said his best days might be behind him -- feels like a beginning somehow. Never mind making tennis look easy; he is learning how to play the game at ease.

"I'm having a great time," he says, pouring himself a Pellegrino. "A fantastic time, really." He doesn't mean just at Melbourne. He dominated at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March, then won another big title in Miami in April. He beat Nadal in all three tournaments, twice without losing a set.

The run seems to be helping him ignore expectations -- and retirement chatter -- as he picks and chooses the tournaments he plays while his younger rivals push through the ATP tour schedule. Thinking about saving energy, going easy on his surgically repaired left knee and extending his playing days as long as he can, Federer recently opted out of the upcoming French Open; clay courts often mean long, grinding matches, and the surface doesn't favor Federer's quick game.

"I can just play the tournaments I want to play and enjoy the process," he says. "If I do show up and play, I love it. When I'm in training, I enjoy being in training. When I'm not in training, if I'm on vacation, I can enjoy that. I'm not in a rush. So I can take a step back and just actually enjoy."

HE IS IN Seattle because of Bill Gates. A Federer superfan and dedicated rec-level player, Gates watched his favorite player at Indian Wells. They bonded there over tennis and philanthropy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions on improving living standards in Africa. Federer's foundation also focuses on Africa, especially education for children. They decided to organize an exhibition at the KeyArena in Seattle -- Federer vs. John Isner, the tall, big-serving American -- as part of a fundraiser for Federer's charity.

A couple of days before the exhibition, Federer, wife Mirka and a few others from his team visited Gates' 66,000-square-foot compound on the shores of Lake Washington, called Xanadu 2.0. Before courses of halibut and steak, they spoke about physics and Leonardo da Vinci and his audacious, open-minded genius. Growing up, Federer wasn't focused on being a student, he says. He stopped going to school at age 16 to play tennis full time. Over the years, he's tried to soak up knowledge where he can. The night at Gates' estate was a career high point. "It was so inspiring," he says. "It was surreal."

Gates invited his guests into his library. He and Federer paid special attention to a notebook in a glass case -- the Codex Leicester, filled with Leonardo's drawings, theories and thoughts. Gates paid $30.8 million for it in 1994.

Federer stared in amazement. "He tells you that Da Vinci wrote upside down and from right to left -- Leonardo da Vinci! -- and he was not only great at one thing but he was also great at other things, and you realize how broad somebody's mind can be. Bill Gates is one of those people too. You can feel it. He makes you -- not because he wants to in any way, because he's super humble -- but he just makes you feel so small, in the sense that I know so little. Everything he says just seems really important, and you try to absorb it. I tried really to put my antennas up."

Over the course of a long weekend, Federer and Gates had two dinners and a lunch together. They practiced tennis in front of an exclusive audience of deep-pocket donors, and Federer presented Gates with a new racket similar to his own, a matte-black Wilson RF97. It was inscribed on the throat with Gates' profile and renamed the BG97.


General Interviews 2017-2018 - Page 4 R212901_608x475cc

Bill Gates is a Federer superfan and dedicated rec-level player.

Gates was struck by Federer's curiosity, and, of course, by his grace. "You know, tennis, it's sort of physics," he says. "But it's also artistic, particularly the way Roger appears to move so effortlessly." Practicing with Federer, noticing his attention to detail, his meticulous approach, Gates was reminded of a software engineer's painstaking efforts to make computer programs easy to use. "You're making impossible things actually look fairly easy because you've done so much behind the scenes to understand it," he says.

At the exhibition, Federer and Gates played a lighthearted set of doubles with Isner and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. Gates was nervous about playing in front of a crowd. His reputation as a computer genius and philanthropist is unassailable, but what if he embarrassed himself as a tennis player? Federer took him aside. One of the world's greatest tennis players became a coach. One of the world's richest men became a student. The lessons were imported from Australia. Be aggressive but loose. Breathe deep. Keep a Zen-like focus on the ball.

"Let go," Federer said.

"He made it clear," Gates says, "that we were going to have fun."

Gates didn't miss a single serve.

ONCE A CAREFULLY crafted image of Swiss perfection, Federer has long showed only glimpses of his life in carefully choreographed doses. But lately that's been changing. "I have an easier time sharing these feelings that I have with people," he says.

He laughed through an impromptu recording of a karaoke moment in January with tour buddies Tommy Haas and Grigor Dimitrov. "We're starting a boyband #NOTNSYNC," said his Instagram account. The video went viral. He filmed a practice session in Dubai wearing a microphone, describing drills in real time and taking questions from fans. "I miss you guys," he said. "That is why I am training so hard and trying to get back, so that we can sort of see each other again."

At Indian Wells, he held a news conference for elementary school kids and talked kittens and oatmeal and parents. Then he plopped to the floor and did pushups with laughing second-graders. In Miami, he posed for a selfie with a large iguana that trundled around the side courts. "Roger is feeling it," says Haas, a longtime pro.

At the Met Gala in New York in early May, Federer wore a tuxedo that looked very much like a Federer tuxedo: classic and well-trimmed. But when he turned around, there was a cobra on the back. A bejeweled, tongue-flashing cobra on Roger Federer. Wrap your mind around that. He snapped selfies. They flew across the internet. "I thought, 'Come on, let's come up with something cool,'" he says. "I've never been so, 'Let me look good. Let's do something fun here.'"

Famously private and focused, he says he sometimes muses now about how cool it might be to show up at a public park, surprise people and shoot hoops with them or hit tennis balls. But so far he hasn't been able to bring himself to do it. He's still Swiss, after all. Showing up unannounced on someone else's turf would be impolite. "I'm entering someone's space, and I would disrupt somebody. ... Going to the park and doing that and seeing people's faces would be very cool. But I don't know -- I'm too shy to do it for now."

FEDERER IS SURPRISED by how excited people have been about him since Australia. "I've had rocky years the last few years," he says. "And I did have my doubts. I think people can relate to that."

Until now, he largely has been a blank slate upon which fans can project their feelings -- like Gates, who sees in him some fantastic combination of science and art. But if perfection was once the draw for Fed fans, maybe now it's something more human.

Reality peaked in 2016, when he twisted a knee while bathing his children in Melbourne and tore his meniscus, requiring surgery. If a simple task of fatherhood caused a serious injury, how much longer could he expect to play tennis like Roger Federer? Then he hurt his back. Then, at Wimbledon, he fell in a heap against Milos Raonic in the semifinals. His knee newly aggravated, he took six months off the tour (for rehab.

For the first time since he was a teenager, he experienced what it was like to have significant time away from pressure and fame. He spent long stretches at home, near Zurich. He hung out at his second home in Dubai. He visited Greece and took his family to the Hamptons. "It felt like the end of a career," he says. He missed the game but also learned that when the time comes to retire, he will be able to handle it. "When all is said and done," he says, "it will be fine."

Knowing this has made it easier to get back into the game. He followed the tour during his rehab, tracking who was struggling and who was on a roll. On an indoor court in Switzerland, he began to hit balls again. The ritual was familiar, but it felt different too. He sensed that playing tennis offered a special kind of truth for him, a feeling of mastery and control and singular competition that he would never get anywhere else, a feeling he liked. Call it joy.

"Oh, man," he recalls thinking, "it would be nice to be back. It would be nice."

General Interviews 2017-2018 - Page 4 R212636_608x890cc
Federer won the Australian Open after a nearly five-year major tournament drought and against a legion of critics who said his best days might be behind him

AS A TEENAGER, Federer says he had "an amazing time -- coming up, sharing the locker room with the guys for the first time." Between ages 20 and 30, he broke through and dominated the men's game like few before him. After 30, he was up and down until his injury. His play this season stands apart from the years when he was winning three grand slam tournaments a year. Back then, there were stretches when the expectations were absurd. "People were like, 'Oh my god, he's maybe going to lose a set in this match,'" he recalls. "And I'm thinking, like, 'OK, guys, margins are slim. It is normal to lose sets. It might be normal to lose a match.'"

Now neither Federer nor his fans are certain what to expect. He turns 36 in August. This was supposed to be the year of his steep decline. After Australia, Indian Wells and Miami, after getting a seeming upper hand on Nadal, what does he think about the future now? Wimbledon in July is his Holy Grail. He is practicing on hard, fast courts -- with Wimbledon balls. After that, he plans a full schedule, highlighted by the U.S. Open and the tour finals. Maybe he'll finish another season ranked No. 1.

"I think if I find the right balance, it could be quite exciting," he says. Exciting enough to stave off any notions of impending retirement, though he is coy about predictions. "I will play until 40," he says, deadpan. Then he laughs. "Just maybe not on the tour." His goal right now is "to keep a freshness, a freeness" in his game.

It showed at Indian Wells. During practice on the olive and blue courts near the main stadium, the spectators sat 10 rows deep in the stands. He toyed with the ball, spinning it sideways, slapping it to all corners. The fans gasped with delight. He bent to adjust a sock. They gasped again. He paused to soak it in.

Back in Seattle, he lifts his feet onto a leather-backed chair in the hotel dining room and stretches his legs. Of one thing he's certain: "At this point of my career, I will be more laid-back."


Roger Federer ranks No. 4 in the ESPN World Fame 100. This story about him appears in ESPN The Magazine's June 12 World Fame Issue.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/19461829/australian-open-winner-roger-federer-having-way-too-much-fun-quit-now
cornnn92
cornnn92

Posts : 349
Join date : 2017-01-25

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by ph∞be Tue May 30, 2017 4:41 pm

Thank you- fantastic article. I love the bit about the da Vinci notebook.
ph∞be
ph∞be

Posts : 2096
Join date : 2017-01-29

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by avasbar Tue May 30, 2017 8:11 pm

Thank you Corinne - this was beautiful.
I'm loving hearing everything he says these days. It all sounds absolutely perfect. Im counting the days to Wimby. Just have to hold back on the expectation that he will win. He's making that hard tho, how he's talking.
avasbar
avasbar

Posts : 834
Join date : 2017-01-26
Location : OnTheRoadtoEverywhere

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by UES Tue May 30, 2017 8:24 pm

" THE 20 MINUTES in Melbourne have changed the tone and shape of the last phase of Roger Federer's career.

For as long as he keeps playing tennis, he says, he will seek the feeling he found on that night"

Last 5 games of the AO Final. Still love Roger's utter joy at winning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swnC3XC_SYQ

UES

Posts : 1103
Join date : 2017-01-28

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Steerpike60 Tue May 30, 2017 10:04 pm

What a great article! Thanks for posting.

I love the "Ah, s---, it's all happening again." Boy... how many times have I thought that exact same thing - "oh no, not again" when he played Nadal. How great that he reversed that story and has not looked back so far this year!
Steerpike60
Steerpike60

Posts : 2993
Join date : 2017-01-24

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by wcr Tue May 30, 2017 11:28 pm

The following is an important section of an article for how we learn how Roger uses his mind during a match to overcome doubt.  It is the root of his phenomenal success.  There is more good stuff in the article which can be found by clicking the link below.  The part copied below is the section that's key to discovering how the mind of the greatest athlete of this century works at the biggest moments of the game.  Remarkable.

Once More With Feeling
Two decades into his legendary career, Roger Federer is playing with a newfound freedom -- and having way too much fun to quit now.


by Kurt Streeter
05/30/17

Roger Federer ranks No. 4 in the ESPN World Fame 100. This story about him appears in ESPN The Magazine's June 12 World Fame Issue. Subscribe today!

Ah, s---, it's all happening again."

Roger Federer remembers the moment, the word, with painful clarity. "Again."

He was down 3-1 in the fifth set of the 2017 Australian Open final, losing to Rafael Nadal, his career kryptonite. Nadal, who was 6-0 against Federer in grand slams since 2008, pounded forehands at him. Federer felt his legs go heavy. Then heavier. He started talking to himself. "I recall saying, 'You have to try to break now, pal, because later on he is going to stay in the lead and have the break, and then too much luck is involved to turn the whole thing around.'"

More than any player in the modern era, Roger Federer has made the game look easy. Federer, the graceful. Federer, the perfect. Federer, the ideal tennis player. It's what makes him so intoxicating to watch. It's what inspires a near literal traveling church of Roger Federer faithful at ATP events. But what looks easy comes with a soundtrack, an internal monologue, and in that monologue, the greatest male tennis player of all time will sometimes grind hard, full of doubt and pressure and frustration, wrestling with history and ambition, fearful of coming up short.

"Oh, s---, he's got me at the finish line," Federer said to himself.

He struggled to calm down. He kept talking, tried to stay positive: "I told myself, 'I've done very little wrong. I've played committed. I've played bigger with my backhand than I ever have against Rafa. I've hit a lot of backhand winners.'"

He was resetting, centering himself in the middle of a free fall. And somewhere in the conversation between Federer and Federer he found the calm he was seeking. This was an unlikely final to be in, coming off a left knee injury at age 35, and the boisterous crowd was with him. He fed on its energy. He remembers it now as some combination of Zen and excitement. "A different mindset," he says. Instead of getting shaky, he got energized. Instead of reproducing an old pattern, he found something new. "I had the best 20 minutes of my life, maybe, on the tennis court," he says. "I just zoned in and just went ..." He lifts his right hand and mimics a jet taking off. It climbs higher and higher, and then it flies away.

Federer is sitting at a long, lacquered table in a private dining room at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle. He is tanned and wears a black Nike top and black Nike sweats. He sits up in his chair, unspooling the moment in Melbourne, excited at the memory of it. "What I was telling myself is 'Play free,'" he says. "'Don't feel like you're in a straitjacket. Feel like you have nothing to lose, maybe for one of the first times.'"

With Federer serving for the match, Nadal made one last charge, earning two break points and threatening to take back momentum. Federer kept talking to himself, urging himself on: "Just keep not thinking too much about the what-ifs ... the pressure, the moment. I know it's huge, we all know it's huge, but just try to shake it off. Don't freeze up. Fight, but don't try too hard and want it too much."

He looks out the hotel-room window toward Puget Sound. The sky is clear and blue. "Just like Switzerland," he says. Snow-covered mountains rise in the distance. The view is scarred by an unsightly gray power plant. He looks past it to the water and the white peaks.

"I let go," he says.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/19461829/australian-open-winner-roger-federer-having-way-too-much-fun-quit-now
wcr
wcr

Posts : 1537
Join date : 2017-01-31
Location : Gstaad

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Márcia Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:40 am

^^^
General Interviews 2017-2018 - Page 4 Kiss-and-thank-you-smiley-emoticon
Márcia
Márcia

Posts : 4980
Join date : 2017-01-26
Location : Rio de Janeiro

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Márcia Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:05 am

UES wrote:" THE 20 MINUTES in Melbourne have changed the tone and shape of the last phase of Roger Federer's career.

For as long as he keeps playing tennis, he says, he will seek the feeling he found on that night"

Last 5 games of the AO Final.  Still love Roger's utter joy at winning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swnC3XC_SYQ

Never tired of watching these games. Always moved to tears.
Márcia
Márcia

Posts : 4980
Join date : 2017-01-26
Location : Rio de Janeiro

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by RMGuillot Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:27 am

http://tennischannel.com/news/more-stories/rholding-serve-with-roger-federer

RMGuillot

Posts : 6
Join date : 2017-01-28
Age : 78

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by ph∞be Fri Jun 09, 2017 2:19 pm

That is such an amazing interview. Is it available in a downloadable format?
ph∞be
ph∞be

Posts : 2096
Join date : 2017-01-29

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Rufus1 Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:55 am

Here is a far reaching interview with Roger by Oliver Trust for Xinhua.  Lots of questions and answers, that I for one, did not know.  It was apparently done while driving around Stuttgart, but definitely before his match today.  Lots of fun to read especially given today's results.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-06/14/c_136365981.htm

Title: Interview: Federer wants to win Wimbledon once more

He talks extensively about his new hair cut, (better for summer but it will grow!) since it was the first set of questions, life earlier when you could go to a bar with the players after practise but it has become so professional now, gets called a tennis grandpa!!, desire for tennis rather than an ambition to be successful, although recognizing that without success now he would probably stop given his career, what the injury break meant he was able to do and how it has essentially rejuvenated and changed his approach to many things, that mental reset, the vicious cycle with the knee and back and knowing that that couldn't continue, his new(ish?) style of playing and why he withdrew from clay - not heard that reason before - #1 not a goal, but nice, his reaction to winning AO and sunshine double, success is due to talent combined with ambition easy going attitude, the right people around him but is most happy with never losing his ongoing love of tennis, love of cars and watches, swimming with the kids - no he is not afraid of water but that time at the beach the water was too cold so he signed autographs!, planning to go to Shanghai, travelling with the kids (in Switzerland right now to be with friends in the summer), the energy he gets when he returns to his home in the mountains.

For those fretting about his 18 slams to Rafa's 15, he is totally fine with the situation.  He won't change his game because of anybody, including Rafa, in order to win more slams.  He is playing because he loves the game, not to widen the gap.

For fans, and some members, this Q&A was probably the most important to "hear"

Xinhua: As you are 35 and Nadal is 31, it would be helpful for you to win some more Grand Slams to keep him at bay. So far, you've won 18 and Nadal 15.

Federer: I can only tell you that I'm totally relaxed and proud of what I've achieved so far. We will see at the end who has won what, but I certainly won't change my game because of Rapha or anyone else in order to win more Grand-Slams. I am still around because I love the sport. Winning in Australia was a magical feeling and of course I hope I can repeat this somehow for my fans and my country.

The first set of Q&A's all to do with the new "do"

Xinhua: Roger, let's talk about this week's biggest taking point.

Federer: I'm all ears.

Xinhua: You've got a new hair-cut and fans around the globe are talking about it rather than your first tournament for 10 weeks.

Federer: That's right, hey it's nice and short for summer.

Xinhua: For some, your new hair-cut indicates a new life.

Federer: Well it comes pretty close (laughing). It hasn't been this short for the last 20 years.

Xinhua: Why now, any special reason?

Federer: It either has to be short or long. Nothing in between makes sense to me. It's much easier with short hair. With medium length hair, you always have to watch what you hair is doing ... and ... to be honest, my wife likes shorter hair.

Xinhua: What about you?

Federer: I like it longer. But I'm optimistic it'll grow again. To be honest, I can't wait to see it grow.

Lots of questions were asked and answered until you got to this one.

the last Q&A

Xinhua: That is what you call a normal life?

Federer: We try to do everything to provide that. Of course, the kids don't attend a normal school but have home schooling. As soon as that is no longer possible anymore, I would stop playing tennis. Things will possibly change when I end my career. That won't be long I guess. I remember someone called me a tennis grandpa today.

After W, start looking for Roger driving his family around in his "new " (to him) 1960's Mercedes bus!!!!  He should have the tires for it by then!!!

Rufus1

Posts : 527
Join date : 2017-02-18

Back to top Go down

Normal Re: General Interviews 2017-2018

Post by Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Page 3 of 7 Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7  Next

Back to top


 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum