General Interviews with, or about Roger

Eurosport

Federer hungry for trophies in 2020 - including Olympic gold

22 December 2019

Roger Federer has at least six titles in his sights next year, including an Olympic gold, after missing out on a Grand Slam title in 2019.

The 38-year-old lifted the Miami Masters and three ATP 500 titles last year - alongside the Hopman Cup and Laver Cup - but failed to add to his major tally as he lost an epic Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic.

And despite his advancing years, Federer insists his hunger to win trophies is still there.

"I need to train really hard and that will obviously be a goal of mine," the Swiss said.

"Trying to win one of the five big ones, plus the Olympics - six."

Federer ranks the ATP Finals and Olympics alongside the four Slams - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open - in his list of six events.





He added: "I would love to take one of those six chances. I know the French Open's always going to be a bit more complicated".

"And then any title is a great feeling because I know how it feels, even winning the Hopman Cup, Laver Cup, and then, of course, all the other events as well that I won like Dubai, Halle, Miami".

«Die Gedanken ans Ende sind auch meine Motivation»


The 38-year-old Roger Federer finds that his time on the tennis tour has passed in a flash. Sometimes that makes him sad. However he tries to draw strength from it.

Simon Graf


It is Christmas time in Dubai. That means: 25 to 30 degrees, white sand instead of snow, employees with red and white pointed hats, Christmas music and decorations in the shopping center. For the last 15 years, Roger Federer has spent Christmas mostly here, when not with his family. He bought himself an apartment in a skyscraper in the Dubai Marina district, overlooking the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah. In the Emirate, he finds ideal training conditions and is already halfway to Australia.

For the interview, however, he does not receive us in a luxurious high-rise building, but rather in the Alserkal Avenue industrial complex, which houses galleries, start-up offices, cafes, a small chocolate factory, studios for artists and children's workshops and a cinema for art house films. A pleasant contrast to the showy Dubai. Federer has reserved the morning for selected media from all over the world and, despite the precise schedule, finds time for a chat in between. As he drives away in his own car at lunchtime, it starts to rain. This is one of the five rainy days Dubai gets in a year.


Soon it will be Christmas, how do you celebrate it in Dubai?
With the family and a [real] Christmas tree. It was all decorated yesterday. We made cookies as well. My parents are coming, which makes this year special. It's always a nice time, I like Christmas. I would prefer to be in Switzerland, of course. Because that's where my childhood memories come from. And not from Dubai. In the past, I was mostly in Berneck with my grandparents. Those are the images that come to mind.


When was the last time you experienced a white Christmas?
A few years ago we especially flew home and went up to the chalet (in Valbella). But it was all green (laughs). Although, it did start to snow on December 25th. That was six, seven years ago. So I haven't seen a real white Christmas in a long time. Basel doesn't have that much snow over the holiday season. It must have been ages ago.


Do your children put together a wish list?
Yes. They write down things they have wanted for a long time. But that doesn't mean that they get everything. Sometimes the funniest wishes are realized. It becomes problematic when they want a pet. We are rarely at home, so it makes no sense. Not yet. There will be a pet once we are more often at home.


Is Christmas also a phase of reflection for you? A time when you take a breath and look back?
For me that happens more during the vacations. I have just returned from vacation, spent two weeks there with Mirka, the children, the parents. There they are quiet moments when I have time to review the year and to look ahead. Analyze what is going well and what is not. But now that I'm in full training I don't need that anymore. I'm already totally focused to looking to the year ahead.


When you take a breath, do you sometimes think: I do have a crazy life?
That can happen. Sometimes it feels completely normal to be always travelling, to have always a hype around me, have every match full, win or lose. But there are also moments when I realize how crazy it all is: That I am always recognized, that it's always sold out, that I have won again. It depends on how much time I have for myself alone. Which is quite rare. I live a clocked life. There is almost always something going on. When I get home, I don't hear any feedback. The children are there, it goes on seamlessly. That's why dinner is so important for Mirka and me, in couple or with friends. For once, we are amongst ourselves, we can chat. These moments do us good.


You like to have people around you. Where does it come from? And where does your ability to connect with people so quickly comes from?
At the beginning, I was a little shy but I never had any problems approaching others. I got that from my father. I really spend very little time alone, apart from the hours on the massage table. During massages, I have time for myself, about an hour and a half per day. There it gets quiet. But it's true. When I compare myself to Pete Sampras, who found it difficult to meet new people, I am completely different. I quickly trust others, and if someone abuses that, I say to myself: "Okay, this time you were unlucky." But that doesn't stop me from approaching others openly, so that I can enjoy the moment with them. I love meeting new people and engaging with them. Because everyone has a different story to tell, everyone has their own battles to fight. Maybe that's why I see the positive in everyone.


The South American tour immediately followed the ATP Finals in London. You must have been disappointed after the semi-final exit against Stefanos Tsitsipas, but you went on right away. How do you manage to throw yourself into the next again and again?
That's what tennis taught me. After a bitter defeat, there is always a chance when the next one comes. It was extreme in Bogota (during the exhibition match) when we were ready to enter the court and play. And then we had to cancel the match. We were incredibly disappointed. I said to Sascha (Zverev): «Can you imagine that we will be in the bullring in Mexico City in 24 hours and break the attendance record for a tennis match? If you need a reality check, that is it. You can't believe what happened today. Tomorrow is the same, but in a positive way.» That's why you should not immediately see everything negatively if for once it does not work. I said to myself in the second half of my career, from the age of 25, that I didn't want to be sad for long after losing. It doesn't bring you anything. I didn't want to spend so much negative energy. Today I can flip the switch (he snaps his fingers) and it's like forgotten. Sure there are flashbacks now and then. That I think: "Okay, that was a shame!" But then I say to myself: "No matter, life goes on!"


After the Swiss Indoors, you said in a TV interview that you were sad that everything was going so quickly and that your career was slowly coming to an end. Do such thoughts come up often?
Usually only when asked how long I will play. I don't know that either. I'm curious myself. What I do know: That the past 20, 25 years have passed in a flash. At 14, I was at the Orange Bowl, the World Junior Championship. It was just taking place this week, Tony's son (Godsick, the manager) was playing. Then you think back to your time as a 14-year-old. Now I'm sitting here at 38 and ask myself: Is everything almost over? If that's the case, it happened really quickly. But that's also a nice thought. As one says: Time flies when you're having fun! That's how it has been for me. I had wonderful years on the tennis circuit. And I shall experience a lot of nice things afterwards. If it get to this: I will miss the tour, the tennis family. But for now I'm still enjoying it.


Are you trying to push away the thoughts of an approaching end?
No, I don't want to push these thoughts away from me. They are part of it, they are real. They should also make me think. That I feel gratitude for what I was able to experience. And they can also be a motivation. They can encourage me to think about what I could do differently to stay longer on the tour. It is important to deal with your fears. As a tennis player, you need to know your strengths and weaknesses. If you are ignorant and think you have no weaknesses and are the best anyway, it will not go well. It’s important to have a healthy self­-confidence. But you also have to be able to assess yourself well. As a player as well as a person. The weaknesses are part of it.


You committed yourself to the Chinese exhibition tournament in Hangzhou until 2023. Some interpreted it that you will continue to play on the tour until 2023. Is that correct?
(laughs) No, it’s not logical. I just know that until then I can still play tennis at a level that will make people happy. But whether I'm still on the tour at that time, I don't have a clue. When ever I leave the professional tour, I won't forget the tennis. Thinking back at when I went on a show tour with Pete Sampras in 2007, he beat me in Macao. Sampras had already been retired for five years and I was world number 1. At some point your career ends because you can no longer play week after week. But you can still bring a good match every now and then.


Your daughters Myla and Charlene are already ten, your sons Leo and Lenny five. Do you only really become aware of your age when you see your children?
Yes, it's amazing how big they are. How much I experienced with them, what I can already discuss with them. It shows me how quickly this all went. That's why it's always important that I remember to make time for them, not always rush, not play every tournament. Because my children and Mirka are the absolute priority for me.


A tennis question: Although you played your best tennis at important moments this season - like in the Wimbledon semi-final against Rafael Nadal or at the ATP final against Novak Djokovic - you did not win a big title. How do you see this duality?
You can't always explain everything. Sometimes that’s just how it works. In Wimbledon, only one point was missing. Had I got it, it would have changed everything. This realization led me to not over-analyze. I put myself in a position that would have enabled me to win. But of course one can ask oneself why I didn't quite manage to reach the summit. Do I have to change anything? That I will closely examine with Ivan (Ljubicic) and Seve (Luthi) in the next few days.


How do you do that?
I will ask them to put everything on the table. It is important that we talk totally openly to each other. It’s the only way to get ahead. I always look forward to these discussions, they are capital for us to understand each other well, avoid any kind of misunderstandings. We spend so much time together during the year that you think you understand each other. But it's the nuances that make the difference. When they say I have to attack the backhand, it doesn't mean that I have to attack with every stroke, but rather at the right moment. My big task from late December to early January is to understand my coaches perfectly, to grasp their tactical ideas 100 percent.


In the first part of your career you had the greatest fluctuations in your backhand, and since you returned in 2017 after knee surgery your forehand has been inconsistent. How do you explain that?
I see two explanations. First, my move to a larger racket has helped my backhand a lot. This is most obvious as I have fewer frame balls. But I was also aware that this change would affect the forehand. Second, my hand problems in the summer 2018 destabilized my forehand. It troubled me for a long time. Fortunately, things are much better now and I hardly have any pain in my hand.


The Wimbledon Final 2019, like the one in Melbourne in 2017, has left its mark on your fans. But in a different way. How do you perceive how strongly people live by your career?
So (thinking about it briefly), as far as the Australian Open is concerned, I witnessed very strongly how it moved people. Because I won and everyone wanted to talk to me about it. It's different with defeats: People avoid asking me about it. I guess because they don't want to bring back bad memories, they don't know how much I still suffer from them. They don't want to open Pandora's box. As people hardly speak to me about it, I don't really know how much the Wimbledon Final left its mark on the fans. Of course, I have an idea through storytelling in the media. But I can't really estimate the extent because people want to protect me. Of course, I realized right away that this was an incredibly dramatic final, just because of the missed match balls, and that it would take on a dimension that goes beyond tennis. Like Melbourne 2017 or the Wimbledon Final 2008 against Rafa (Nadal). These are matches that reverberate for a long time.


For your foundation, you visit families in southern Africa or Switzerland who are not as privileged. Do you sometimes realize how lucky you were on the way?
Absolutely. I met a woman yesterday with ALS. The disease that had struck Steven Hawking too. I have had encounters like these more and more lately. The woman could not move, wrote with her eyes on a computer. She really wanted to meet me. At such moments, I become very aware of how lucky I have been. It could have been very different. But you can only look back on life, you don't know what the future hold.

Assistance: Mathieu Aeschmann

This is how Federer celebrates Christmas in Dubai


As long as Roger plays tennis, it requires sacrifices. One of them is Christmas in Dubai. The Federers would prefer to be at home in Switzerland.

By    Cécile Klotzbach, Dubai | Blick.ch  
Published:  Dec. 22, 2019



Parcels and a Christmas tree: Federer likes Christmas like in this photo montage.




It's warm outside, 20 to 25 degrees. In the Arab Emirate of Dubai, winter temperatures prevail only in over-air-conditioned interiors. The Persian Gulf is within sight of the skyscraper that the Federer family has lived in since 2006. Expensive yachts bob in the marina harbour. The shops and restaurants are decorated in red and green for the holidays, and hotel lobbies and elevators feature “Jingle Bells” and “Last Christmas” carols. Christmassy, yes - but not the atmosphere of the Christian celebration that the Swiss people know.


Firm about real tree

So Roger Federer and his wife Mirka have to recreate this atmosphere for their crowd of four kids. "Of course Christmas in Dubai is a bit different from what I used to know," says the tennis star, who - as long as he is actively playing - is preparing here for the start of the season in Australia. He isn't a Christmas 'grinch', he likes to celebrate in the traditional way. «I think it's a wonderful time. We have a lot of fun and decorate the Christmas tree together. »

A fake Christmas tree, good or bad, no? "No, it has to be real," says Roger. For the holiday, he gets a real fir tree from the desert, which starts losing its first needles as soon as it is set up in the room. "But it always smells so nice in the house!"

A smell that awakens wonderful childhood memories from the 38-year-old Baseler. Years ago, when he was already participating in  international junior tournaments at the end of December, klein Rodschi (small Rogi) always celebrated with his grandparents in Berneck in the Rhine Valley, where his father Robert grew up. People went to church, carols were sung, the Christmas tree was decorated and eagerly awaited for the 'Christchindli'. “I had it all,” said Federer, “and of course, as a family man, I want it to be as nice for my children today. Actually, you totally forget about yourself as parents, it's only about them. »

Myla and Charlene (both 10), Lenny and Leo (both 5) will also be able to experience Christmas in Switzerland soon - when Papa is no longer chasing Grand Slam titles. Either in the snow in Valbella - Roger definitely wants to keep their chalet in the mountains. Or even in Rapperswil, where he is currently building a huge, new property on Lake Zurich.

Roger cannot yet say exactly when the Federers will move in there. And if he knows, he won't share it with the whole world. "I really hope that not too much is written about it and everything documented so that we can protect our privacy a bit," he says. With the project in Rapperswil, however, a dream will finally come true, he reveals. «Because with Mirka I can build a house for life and the whole extended family at a relatively young age. In the future, many memories of several generations will surely flow together there. »


Homesick for Switzerland

Since Roger has had children, his has become even more homesick for Switzerland. "We all prefer to be here, because only here do we really feel at home." Especially at this time of the year, the globetrotter would much prefer to be in Switzerland. "Because that's where I experienced all these beautiful moments, not anywhere else."

His wife Mirka, who leads the organizational effort for her large cosmopolitan family around the world, feels exactly the same. «Mirka is very attached to Switzerland! Otherwise we would never have built two-, three times in our primary homeland,” explains Roger. Although both have roots also elsewhere - Federer on the side of his mother in South Africa, Mirka in Slovakia - they are equally in love with Switzerland. «It was always clear that we would stay in Switzerland, and neither of us had to persuade the other one to do so. The only question was where.»

It is now clear. Still Christmas tales at Federers in Dubai - soon maybe in the new home in Rapperswil.