Story From The Dec./Jan. Issue Of Tennis Week Magazine: The Boy

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Story From The Dec./Jan. Issue Of Tennis Week Magazine: The Boy Next Door Photo By Paul Zimmer By Richard Evans 12/23/2004 His mother had just started working in the credentials office at the tournament; so there was no problem when Lynette Federer suggested her son join the ballboys team for the Swiss Indoors at the St. Jakobhalle in Basel in 1990. "I was 9 and I was really nervous," said the boy who has grown into the best tennis player in the world. Smiling at the memory, Roger Federer was all dressed up in his smart business suit at this year’s tournament, greeting sponsors and VIP visitors with his understated charm. "It was a big deal for me to find myself out there on the Centre Court with all these players I had been reading about and seen on television. I think one of my first matches was ballboying for Michael Stich. He was a great player, but I think I was just concentrating on picking the ball up cleanly!" Given his natural hand-eye coordination, that was never going to be a problem, and just eight years later, the next generation was ballboying for Federer when he made his debut at his hometown tournament. "It is so strange,” said Roger Brennwald, who has built the Davidoff Swiss Indoors into one of the most established and best-run events on the ATP calendar. "For years, I had been worrying about trying to lure the world’s best players to my tournament, and now the very best is the little chap who grew up down the road and used to practice for hours on our outdoor courts! I don’t have to look so far anymore." Except for, unhappily, this year, when Federer tore a thigh muscle in training and had to disappoint his army of Swiss fans by pulling out. But even that calamity had its silver lining. The reaction of the Basel public proved that Brennwald’s event is bigger than one player, bigger even than a local superstar. Because even those seats that had not been sold in advance were mostly filled right through the evening sessions and at the weekend, when Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic came through to win the title with a five-set victory over Argentina’s David Nalbandian. And Federer, by his regular daily attendance, proved that he is already attuned to the idea that his duties as a leading personality in his sport do not end at the baseline. On the final day, he spent the entire afternoon, before and after the final, chatting with Brennwald’s most important customers and having photographs taken with everyone who asked. To the delight, not to say the amazement of, those in the press room, this attitude extends to Federer’s relationship with the media. Always affable and available after his matches, Federer slides easily between French, German, Swiss-German and English in his interviews and rarely turns down a legitimate request. "Why should I?" he asks. "I see most of you guys practically every day on the tour; so it is no problem for me to spend an hour talking to you, especially if it helps publicize the sport. And, anyway, I think some of you are pretty funny!" To that, most of us say "Bravo!" and hope that it will last. Happily, there is every sign that it will because this is one young man who has been brought up with both feet on the ground in the time-honored Swiss tradition. For that, you can thank his father, Robert, while his mother has probably been more responsible for encouraging the flair that is so evident in his game and the worldly view that is now shaping his off-court activities. Lynette is South African and met Roger’s father when they were both working for a pharmaceutical company. It is probably fair to say that had both of Roger’s parents been Swiss, he would not have found it so easy to break out of the closed club atmosphere that exists in cities such as Basel. "People tend to be too protective here," Mrs. Federer said, chatting amid the throng of guests who were taking their leave after the final. She is a small, neat, attractively coiffed woman who gives absolutely no sign of being carried away by the fame and fortune that has descended on her family as a result of her son being able to hit a tennis ball with such style. "When it became obvious that there was no one good enough at our club in Roger’s age group for him to play with, we sent him off to other places so that he could have as wide a range of opponents as possible." The intimation was that this had gone against the grain for some of the club members, but the Federers’ refusal to buckle under murmurs of disapproval quickly paid off for their boy, whose shining talent soon became obvious as he moved through the junior ranks. But no matter how liberal were their plans for him, bad behavior was not tolerated, and when Roger started throwing racquets and bursting into tears after a defeat, he was told in no uncertain terms that this was not the way to behave. Bjorn Borg went through a similar stage in his early teens and then emerged as the ice-cold Swedish machine. Federer will never be quite like that, but after all those missed opportunities when people, somewhat prematurely, started doubting his ability to win big titles, he is now mature enough to say, "I am actually quite calm inside. Once I feel good on the court, once I am sure what’s going on, I don ’t think about going crazy anymore. It never crosses my mind. Obviously, in tough situations, I put on a little bit of a poker face. I cannot start having wobbly legs at break point. You have to get your act together." Some act. And it is still not the finished article, although at home among his own people, as well as in the tennis capitals of the world, this young man is looking like a very assured and sophisticated 23-year-old. Basel is a bustling city of tree lined avenues with trams and the Rhine running through it. The border with France sits on the western edge of town, but it was not until Federer was 14 that he started speaking the language. "I always spoke English to him at home," explains Lynette, "and he was being taught in Swiss-German at school. But as soon as we sent him off to train in a French-speaking part of the country, he picked up French pretty quickly." Despite a relatively low-key personality, this linguistic talent will soon start to enhance Federer’s fame on the international stage. Being just as much at ease on a German or French chat show as he is on David Letterman is a huge advantage if you are selling the game, and although large tracts of the tennis world are Spanish speaking, there is no doubt that the refusal of Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria, the Argentine champion and runner up at Roland Garros, to speak English in interviews is restricting the spread of their popularity, quite apart from reducing their earning power. But for Federer, of course, a multi-lingual facility is almost essential because Switzerland is a nation of three languages — Italian being the third — and he would not be as popular as he is if he only spoke one. And how popular is that? "As popular as anyone in the history of Swiss sport,” says Bernhard Schaer of the Swiss radio station DRS "As soon as he won Wimbledon, people realized that all the talk about him being great was probably true, and since then, he has gone on proving it. Now he is as big as any skier or soccer player. Perhaps Silvano Beltrametti, our champion skier whose career was ended after a bad accident at Val d’Isere three years ago, was the last sportsperson to be such a popular figure." And as one strains to think of too many famous Swiss currently making headlines in other fields of endeavor, it is safe to say that, like Boris Becker in Germany in the 1990s, Federer is among the top two or three most recognized people in the whole country. That does not mean, however, that Federer will become idolized in the same puppy-dog manner as Becker, when, for years, a remarkably wide range of Germans of all ages fawned in front of their hero. The Swiss tend to get less carried away and will make their appreciation known in a more sedate fashion. But there is no doubt that this appreciation of Federer as a very special young man will grow as his influence spreads far beyond the tennis court. Schaer points to the fact that the way Federer conducts himself reflects a good upbringing. "You can always tell," he says. "A good education shines through." Mr. and Mrs. Federer can step forward and take credit for that, but although Lynette is now deeply involved in her son’s life off the court, neither mother nor father could be accused of falling victim to the pushy parent syndrome. "We have always tried to be straight with people, and we try to stay out of the way," says Lynette. "We are not the kind of parents who are always there, hanging over the railings." This is not to say that she holds back with her opinions about what should happen to maximize the gift of Roger’s arrival on the Swiss tennis scene. "The Swiss federation should do more to capitalize on what is happening with tennis in this country as a result of Roger’s success. Now is the moment." Mother and son have certainly wasted no time in ensuring that others benefit from the player’s success. A few months ago, the Roger Federer Foundation came into being with the specific purpose of helping underprivileged children in South Africa. The poor township of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth has been targeted, with 30 children being offered schooling, clothes and two meals a day. In association with the South African charity IMBEWU (a southern Africa word for “seed”), arrangements have been made for Swiss nationals to travel to Port Elizabeth and spend between three and six months there, helping local workers and getting to know their "adopted" children. The Foundation also pays the salary of two social workers to oversee an operation that Lynette hopes will grow with time. "Roger was very keen to do something for kids in my home country," Lynette says with a hint of pride. "He has been down there and will be making more trips in the future to see how we can develop the Foundation." Federer, of course, is not alone in giving something back. Andre Agassi, Todd Martin, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver, MaliVai Washington, Yannick Noah and Jim Courier head a long list of players who have set up a variety of programs to help those less-blessed than themselves, but few got started as early as Federer. Perhaps Noah is the most obvious exception, but he, too, had a mother who was prepared to take charge of a project and is still the driving force behind Les Enfants de la Terre. Inevitably, as his fame mounts, so the demands become more arduous. Sooner or later, a personality, be it in sports or entertainment, is going to make decisions about his career that will leave some people disappointed. Federer has just done that, informing the Swiss Federation that he will not be playing Davis Cup in 2005 so that he can concentrate on maintaining his No. 1 ranking while attempting to add the French Open to his growing collection of Grand Slam tournament titles. There is little doubt that the futility of trying to win Davis Cup World Group matches with colleagues who are simply not in that league played a part in Federer’s thinking, and for the sake of the Davis Cup, it is to be hoped Switzerland unearths some young talent in the near future so that the world No. 1 might think it worth his time and effort. Like John McEnroe, Federer has never been one to shun the team concept in sports. "Roger used to be just as upset if his soccer team lost as he was when he was beaten in a singles match at tennis,” says Lynette. "I suppose he takes after me in that respect. My South African upbringing embraced the culture of team sports, and so even though I ran for myself at track and field, I was also running for my athletics club." This suggests Federer will be back in Swiss colors someday, but in the meantime, he will simply try to become the best tennis player possible and the thought of further improvement should send shudders down his opponents’ spines. As his extraordinary year of achievement came to a final, thrilling climax at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, the outstanding question concerned the continued absence of a coach. Ever since the breakup with Peter Lundgren a year ago, Federer has been without one, relying for assistance on tour from his physical trainer and his longtime girlfriend, Mirka Vavrinec, the former player who handles his social commitments with sponsors such as Maurice Lacroix watches and Swiss Airlines. Once it became obvious that Andre Agassi intended to continue on a full schedule in the coming year — thus ruling out the possibility of Darren Cahill becoming available — Federer turned to Tony Roche, and the pair did spend a brief period training together. However, it is doubtful whether the Australian, who guided Patrick Rafter to the top of the rankings, would want to return to a full-time role on the circuit. So, deceptively perhaps, Federer will head into the new year under his own steam, which, as journalist John Roberts wrote in the London Independent, is not as simple as it looks. "Watching Federer play tennis," Roberts wrote, "can be like watching a swan gliding serenely over water — it is easy to forget how much hectic activity may be taking place beneath the surface." Win or lose in 2005 — and don’t bet on the second option — it will be a privilege to watch this gifted player lift the game of tennis to an art form in the coming months. But Mom is not getting carried away. "It is wonderful to hear people talk about Roger possibly becoming the greatest player of all time," says Lynette. "But it is results that count." This story appears in the latest issue of Tennis Week magazine. 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