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THE ROGER FEDERER STORY Quest For Perfection RENÉ STAUFFER THE ROGER FEDERER STORY Quest For Perfection RENÉ STAUFFER New Chapter Press Cover and interior design: Emily Brackett, Visible Logic Originally published in Germany under the title “Das Tennis-Genie” by Pendo Verlag. © Pendo Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich and Zurich, 2006 Published across the world in English by New Chapter Press, www.newchapterpressonline.com ISBN 094-2257-391 978-094-2257-397 Printed in the United States of America Contents From The Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Prologue: Encounter with a 15-year-old . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction: No One Expected Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv Part i From Kempton Park to Basel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A Boy Discovers Tennis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Homesickness in Ecublens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Best of All Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A Newcomer Climbs to the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 New Coach, New Ways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Olympic Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 No Pain, No Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Uproar at the Davis Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Man Who Beat Sampras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The Taxi Driver of Biel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Visit to the Top Ten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Drama in South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Red Dawn in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The Grand Slam Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 A Magic Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 A Cow for the Victor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Reaching for the Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Duels in Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 An Abrupt End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 The Glittering Crowning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 No. 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Samson’s Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 New York, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Setting Records Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 The Other Australian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 A True Champion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Fresh Tracks on Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Three Men at the Champions Dinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 An Evening in Flushing Meadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 The Savior of Shanghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Chasing Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 A Rivalry Is Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Two New Friends: Woods and Sampras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 The Perfect 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 PART II The Person: Nice but Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 The Player: Like a Chameleon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 The Opponent: Just to be in his Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 The Entrepreneur: Sign of the Hippo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Everybody Wants Him: The Everyday Media Routine . . . . . . . 215 The Celebrated Man: The Media’s View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 The Ambasssador: On a Noble Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Quotes On Roger Federer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Grand Slam Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 From The Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 List Of Press Sources For Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 From The Author I made the decision to write a book about Roger Federer after Wimbledon in 2003, when he became Switzerland’s first male Grand Slam champion. I had been covering Wimbledon for over twenty years and was well aware of the tremendous significance of this victory. I approached Roger and his parents with this idea, but they were of the opinion, however, that his story had only just begun and that it was too early to write a biography about a 22-year-old. I have to admit that they were right—but just a few years later, Federer’s place in history became evident—in the circle of the all-time greats, next to players such as Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, Rod Laver or Fred Perry. This book attempts to demonstrate how long and difficult Federer’s way to the top has been, what was preventing him from developing his tremendous talent more quickly, how he finally managed to exploit his potential and how extraordinary his winning streaks in this competitive international sport have been. The book also puts a light on Federer’s surroundings and the people who were vital in his quest for perfection. It may serve to illustrate how high the goals are that yet lie before him in his future career—such as the Grand Slam or the high-water mark of 14 Grand Slam titles. The fact that this is a major topic of discussion with the international media, players and experts is no coincidence. As the proverb goes, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. In the case of Federer, his accomplishments and talents as a sportsman, ambassador and role model of universal dimensions also generally seem to be more highly regarded by those outside the Swiss border. If some readers become more aware of what a godsend Federer has been for tennis and for sports in general, as an athlete as well as a human being, then this book has already accomplished very much. v vi René Stauffer In viewing the materials that I have gathered in folders, electronic archives and personal recollections of him over the past dozen years, the thought occurred to me over and over again that Roger Federer may be the athlete who has conducted the most interviews. There likely isn’t any question that he hasn’t been asked. Federer answers all of them again and again with admirable patience; he deals with us members of the media collegially and candidly. Again and again, he takes extra time for his countrymen even if he doesn’t have to and even if almost everything has been said. With pleasure, I want to thank him for all of his collaborations with me through the years. Working on this book, it has also become clear to me how much has happened to him and around him in such a short span of time—things that are worth repeating or recording—all the more so because sometimes important contexts only become visible at a greater distance. A feeling of astonishment always comes over me at how this ambitious, dissatisfied junior developed into one of the greatest figures in the sports world—particularly in light of the fact that his character has hardly changed. Aside from his athletic ambition, Roger Federer has remained a modest man who doesn’t think that he’s anybody special. If he does make unpopular decisions, then this is usually due to his realization that they are necessary in order to achieve his lofty career goals. While Federer continues to write his history at breath-taking speed that will hopefully fill many more folders and archive files, I would like to thank some other people who helped me with this book. I especially want to mention Randy Walker, who I started to know and appreciate while he was working for the U.S. Tennis Association and who was the driving force in setting up the English version for New Chapter Press. He brought a lot of new enthusiasm into this work and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of updating and adapting the book. I also want to thank Pendo publishing in Munich and Zurich who took the initiative and offered me an opportunity as a career change to write this book. I want to thank the many people I interviewed or who provided information, who were willing to share their recollections or their knowledge about Roger with me—especially his parents. I also want to mention the many international and Swiss colleagues on the tennis tour who have accompanied The Roger Federer Story vii Roger over the years, who have described and pointed out that what he has achieved is anything but average, especially for a small nation like Switzerland. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge the precious help of the media departments of the ATP with Nicola Arzani and Greg Sharko, an unfailing source of great stats and information, and of the ITF, above all Barbara Travers and Nick Imison. I would also like to thank Tamedia AG, my boss, Fredy Wettstein, and the colleagues at the sports editorial office of the Tages-Anzeiger and the Sonntags-Zeitung who made it possible and helped me to accompany Federer’s development in a journalistically diverse way and to hopefully do appropriate honor to his accomplishments. I would also like to thank my good friend Jürgen Kalwa in New York, who wrote a book about Tiger Woods, who supported me with important tips, as well as my sister Jeannine who was the first one to critically read this manuscript and provided me with valuable feedback. Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Eni, and our daughter Jessica. It wasn’t easy for any of them to have me at home an entire winter —but mostly behind closed doors and in another world. René Stauffer Müllheim, Switzerland, May 2007 Prologue Encounter with a 15-year-old It was September 11, 1996. I was on assignment for the Tages-Anzeiger and was supposed to write a story about the World Youth Cup, a sort of Davis Cup for juniors that was being played in Zurich, the location of our editorial office. I was skeptical. A story about a team tournament involving obscure 15 and 16-year-old tennis players—­who would be interested in that? I viewed this assignment as a tiresome task, thanks to the Swiss Tennis Federation since they had charitably taken on the tournament for its 100-year anniversary. No, this certainly would not be an interesting assignment. On this day, I met Roger Federer for the first time. He played on a far away court surrounded by wire mesh at a tennis and recreation facility called Guggach. Officials from the Swiss Tennis Federation told me that Federer was a pretty good player and that there was little to criticize except that he was sometimes very temperamental. He just turned 15 and was actually too young for this tournament, but his credentials were impressive—he had already won five Swiss national junior championship titles, was the best Swiss player in the 16-and-under age bracket and was already ranked No. 88 nationally. On this day, he played against an Italian named Nohuel Fracassi, who since this encounter with Federer, I never heard from again. Fracassi was more than a year older, bigger and stronger than Federer and he had already won the first set when I arrived. The mood was reminiscent of an insignificant club tournament. There were three or four spectators, a referee and no ball boys. The players fetched the balls themselves. However, I was instantly fascinated by Federer’s elegant style. I had already seen some players come and go in my fifteen years as a tennis journalist but it appeared to me that an extraordinary talent was coming of age here in front of me. He effortlessly put spins on balls so that the Italian—even on this slow clay court—would ix