By Shevlin Sebastian
In July, 2004, I
was in Athens to cover the Olympic Games for ‘The Week’ magazine. One day,
after a tennis match, I slipped into a small hall. Roger Federer sat on a chair
on a small wooden stage. He was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts and white
sneakers. The organisers had placed chairs in a semicircle. Just as casually, I
plonked myself on one in the first row.
It was a
laid-back press conference. The questions began in three languages: English,
French and German. Federer answered with fluency in all the languages and had a
perpetual smile on his face. He was a man who let off a lot of positive
vibrations.
I cannot
remember whether I asked any question or remained tongue-tied. Later, when
Federer stepped out into the corridor, competitors from other disciplines
mobbed him, but he remained patient and smiling. He enjoyed the small talk and
the pats on his back.
So, it was no
surprise I would be an early reader of ‘The Master — The Brilliant Career of
Roger Federer’ by New York Times columnist Christopher Clarey.
Clarey, like
Federer, had travelled all over the world, covering several Grand Slams and
Olympic Games and other big-ticket events.
Clarey also had
unparalleled access to Federer. Over the years, he did around twenty one-on-one
interviews, lasting many hours, in places as diverse as Buenos Aires, Dubai,
New York, and a small village in Switzerland. He also did interviews with eighty
people who know Federer well. These included players, coaches, family members,
agents and company executives.
As a seasoned
journalist, Clarey has an easy-to-read style. The book details how Federer
showed early promise. Recognising his talent, his parents encouraged him, and
so did the coaches at the local club. Soon, Federer set out on the long and
arduous journey to become World No 1 and a legend in the game. Today, he has 20
Grand Slam titles.
Clarey confirmed
what I had intuitively felt in Athens. Federer enjoyed meeting people. He had
gone to Buenos Aires to play exhibition matches just so that he could imbibe
the culture and get to know the people better.
Whenever he went
to a city to play, his wife and children accompanied him. Between matches, they
would go to museums, parks and amusement centres. Unlike most players who stay
cocooned inside their rooms, especially during the hours before a final.
Federer was different. Once, on the day of the final of the US Open, he took
his children for a stroll in Central Park in New York.
The result of
this relaxed attitude — he became the men’s champion.
“What fascinates
me about Roger then and now is that he lives in the present. He has an
exceptional ability to take things as they come. He lives the moment,
experiences it fully, takes pleasure in it, and finishes it, then moves on to
the next,” said Marc Rosset, former Switzerland No. 1.
It is an
unbelievable lifestyle. Flying from place to place in a hired jet, living in
the best hotels and houses money can buy and yet, despite all this, according
to most intimates, Federer remained grounded and unaffected by the fame and the
money.
“Everybody likes
to have more money, but not everybody can deal with it. I think Roger deals
with it very well,” said Severin Luthi, Roger’s coach.
It is a tough
individual sport. Writes Clarey: ‘Tennis does not allow a champion to coast.
Every match is a fresh chance to stumble. The awareness of that sharpens the
mind, quickens the steps and staves off ennui and existential dread.’
If you are a
tennis fan, this book is worth a read.
There is little
chance anybody from India can become World No 1. We simply do not have the
system to nurture talent from kindergarten all the way to the world level.
Those who make it in individual sports do so despite the system. Think Prakash
Padukone, to name one. Somehow, unlike in the West, we do not realise that if
you nurture talent, and it becomes world class, everybody makes money: the
coach, agent, player, federation and the sponsoring company.
In fact, Nike
had made an early investment in Federer. When he was only fourteen, they signed
a deal with him worth $500,000 over five years.
Today, thanks to
their sponsorship of Federer, and other top-flight sportsmen, the company has
an annual turnover of over $50 billion.
In the mid-2020,
in the pandemic's depth, Forbes named Federer as the world’s highest-paid
athlete with an annual income of $106.3 million, of which only $6.3 million was
official prize money. He was ahead of football players Cristiano Ronaldo,
Lionel Messi, Neymar and basketball greats like LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
As the
Bangkok-based fan Varghese Kalathil told me, “There will never be another
player like Roger Federer.”
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