“It’s often difficult to recognize legends or all-time greats when they’re at the height of their powers. It frequently takes the decline in their careers for people to realise the enormity of what they have achieved.” — Chris Bowers, Fantastic Federer: The Biography of the World’s Greatest Player.
Roger Federer was born on August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. He was the second child but a first son of Lynette and Robbie Federer. He got an early start of liking tennis when he picked up a wooden racquet at the age of three and holding it by the throat. His first opponent was the garage door of a family home. “I remember always loving to play against the garage door,” he said in a 2005 interview, “or even against the cupboard doors inside, with any kind of ball. My mum got fed up because it was bang, bang, bang, all day.” By age six or seven, he had several tennis clinics to improve his strokes. By age eight, he was accepted in the junior programme of the TC Old Boys, paving the way for honing his promising talent as a tennis player.
He completed the compulsory secondary education but most of his time and effort was totally committed to tennis. It paid off when in 1998, at age 17, he attained the No. 1 junior world ranking and was named ITF Junior World Champion. He lost his first ATP game at home in the Swiss Open Gstaad to No. 88 Lucas Arnold Ker in the first round. It didn’t take long when he started piling up victories.
As he progressed in his tennis career, he needed help for the mental aspect of the game. “I was getting too upset,” he said in an interview, “so I needed some help on how to think about different things and how to get rid of the feeling of anger. That’s why I worked with the psychologist. I think I’ve always been told the right things from the people around me—things like how to behave, how hard to work, what to do, what not to do—but in the end it’s yourself who has to react and want to put in the effort, and that God I realised that—probably a little bit late, but in time to change some things. So, after working with the psychologist, I kind of worked on it myself.” Indeed, his passion to the tennis games never faltered and he did not get burned out as well.
His first Grand Slam single title was at Wimbledon in 2003 against Mark Philippoussis, the hard-serving tennis player from Australia, with the score of 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. At courtside interview, his voice cracked with emotion while tears of joy flowed freely down his face he said, “And now I’m here!” In the following morning, he said, “There’s no rule about how you should conduct yourself in the moment when you win or win you lose. The only thing you mustn’t do is throw your racquet into the crowd and injure someone. There are people who don’t smile when they win, and there are people who smile for weeks afterwards. I’m the kind of guy who lets tears flow, and I think that goes down pretty well, especially when people see this is the realization of my biggest dream and that it’s just amazing for me. I got a lot of feedback that people in the crowd also cried and enjoyed it, and it’s nice to share this with a lot of people. ”
By the time he “graduated” [Federer’s preferred word than retired] from tennis he racked up 103 career titles, 20 of which were Grand Slam championships. He also made a ton of money from his winnings and endorsements. The Hall of Famer Billie Jean King commented on Federer’s retirement announcement, “Roger Federer is a champion’s champion. He has the most complete game of his generation and captured the hearts of sports fans around the world with an amazing quickness on the court and a powerful tennis mind. He has had a historic career with memories that will live on and on.”
Roger Federer was the Commencement Speaker of the Dartmouth Graduating Class of 2024. In his remarks, he shared three lessons to help the graduates navigate their transition from students to the working world. He called them “tennis lessons”.
- “Effortless”…is a myth.
When we watched Federer play, his form and strokes were that of a master who brought down “ohs” and “ahs” from the audience for his excellent performance. Effortless was the right word. “People would say,” Federer said, “my play was effortless. Most of the time, they meant it as a complement. But it used to frustrate me when they would say, ‘He barely broke a sweat!’ Or ‘Is he even trying?’ The truth is, I had to work very hard to make it look easy.”
He continued, “I didn’t get where I got on pure talent alone. I got there by trying to outwork my opponents. I believed in myself. But BELIEF in yourself has to earned. You need a whole arsenal of strengths so if one of them breaks down, you’ve got something left. Most of the time, it’s not about having a gift. It’s about having grit. In tennis, like in life, discipline is also a talent. And so is patience. Trusting yourself is a talent. Embracing the process, loving the process, is a talent. Managing your life, managing yourself, these can be talents, too.”
- It’s only a point.
At the tennis courts, I see some very competitive players get so angry in losing a point. They whacked the loose ball to the other side of the court unmindful that it might hit their opponents. They cursed at themselves, as if by doing so, their game would be corrected. Tennis, even with amateurs, can be brutal sometimes.
Federer said, “In tennis, perfection is impossible. In the 1,526 single matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of these matches [but only 54% in point percentage]. In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. When it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point, and the next one after that with intensity, clarity and focus. The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job. It’s a roller coaster, with many ups and downs. Negative energy is wasted energy. You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion. The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It’s because they know they’ll lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it. You accept it. Cry it out if you need to. Then force a smile. You move on. Be relentless. Adapt and grow. Work harder. Work smarter.”
- Life is bigger than the court.
To some, their career is their life. It defines them completely. So much so that when they retire, they find this transition in their life difficult to adjust. They become depressed, unable to move from their couch and spend most of their time watching television.
As Federer has “graduated” from tennis, he now embarks his attention to the much bigger court. “I was excited to travel the world,” he said, “but not just as a tourist. I realized pretty early that I wanted to serve other people in other countries. Motivated by my South African mother, I started a foundation to empower children through education. Tennis has given me so many memories. But my off-court experiences are the ones I carry forward just as much. The places I’ve gotten to travel. The platform that lets me give back. And most of all, the people I’ve met along the way.”
Roger Federer is my GOAT in tennis. He can be emulated but not duplicated. Grigor Dimitrov, a Hungarian professional tennis player, modeled his style of playing to that of Federer. He won just 9 career titles in singles so far, but no major championship. He ranked as high as number 3 in 2017. The new breed of high-quality professional tennis players uses the two-handed backhand than the superb one-handed backhand of Federer.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the other two great players of all time, formed the best rivalries in tennis. As much as I will miss the strong competition of this triumvirate, I find the high-calibre players, like Carlos Alcaraz (Spanish), Jannik Sinner (Italian), Casper Ruud (Norwegian), Taylor Fritz (American), Félix Auger-Aliassime (Canadian), and Alex de Minaur (Australian) very entertaining to watch, too. But among these tennis upstarts, I like Alcaraz the best.
Everything comes and goes. Federer has become a footnote. But as far as I am concerned, HE IS FOREVER THE BOLD FOOTNOTE IN THE HISTORY OF TENNIS.
23 September 2025