LONDON: Roger Federer has not won a grand slam title for almost 30 months, yet when it comes to pulling power he remains number one at Wimbledon.
The moment the 16-time grand slam champion sauntered on to the players’ terrace on Saturday he looked like the pied piper.
When a young boy adoringly looked up to Federer and said ‘I want to be as god, sorry, as good as you,’ the amused Swiss ruffled the fan’s hair and asked ‘How good are you?’.
During a sit-down with Reuters, he was asked whether he feels lucky to have played in such a competitive generation, he responded, “Do I feel lucky? I feel lucky that I’ve had such a wonderful career because I never thought it would be that incredible.”
But he must think that if Nadal’s career had not coincided with his own he would have won more French Open titles?
Apparently not. “Honestly I haven’t thought about it too much. I’ve enjoyed my rivalry with him. Some losses have been tough against him but it makes the victories a bit sweeter as well (especially) when you do beat someone who you have lost many times against.
Then asked about the flurry of honours he has received, he was asked to pick out the most bizarre.
“I guess (being on) all those sexy lists or whatever. GQ magazine – most sexy man of the year. I don’t know if I was once but I have been the GQ man of the year. I was like ‘yeah right, this is only because I’m playing well’. That’s the only reason… You don’t want to have a balloon head and start flying off.”
Apart from the trophies, Federer’s career can also be played out with a montage of him crying: like after beating Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, crying after winning his first Wimbledon or crying after the 2009 Australian Open final defeat. How does he feel about those?
“I’m happy that I did show those emotions. I used to only show emotions when I lost as a kid.
“Then all of a sudden it hit me when I beat Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001 and then when I won the Davis Cup in my hometown of Basel. I was like ‘what is happening to me?’ So I guess for me it was normal when I did win Wimbledon and hold the trophy in my hands (I cried).
“Some I obviously I wish I didn’t cry after losses, like in Australia (after the epic five-set final defeat by Nadal). But I was just so exhausted. When I sat down (at the end) I was actually calm about it but when I got on the podium and saw all the fans so respectful and had to speak, it (the tears) all of a sudden came out.
“But I don’t regret any of my outbursts. Some people think it’s strange, some people think it’s fantastic. I’m happy it all happened to me so that I could savor it and also feel the pain because it’s not always that easy out there. It shows that I do care about the sport very dearly.” (Reuters)