Last Sunday, Roger Federer won a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam, persevering in style, barely a hair out of place. But it was not always so. Arun Janardhan recalls Federer's tempestuous beginning
Last Sunday, Roger Federer won a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam, persevering in style, barely a hair out of place. But it was not always so. Arun Janardhan recalls Federer's tempestuous beginning
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After breaking Pete Sampras' record with a 15th Grand Slam title, after winning his sixth at Wimbledon, after a heart-breaking four-hour-16 minute final that would have squeezed emotions and energy out of any ordinary mortal, Roger Federer still underplayed it.
He just jumped.
That display of repressed emotion may not be surprising for most people who have seen Federer play. He is usually not given to emotions or theatrics, though is known to shed copious tears, after a big win or a loss. But after reclaiming the title he was denied in 2008, after playing the longest fifth set in the history of the championship finals, recapturing the number one ranking, he would have been excused a bellow, a cartwheel or even a Pat Cash-like ascent up the stands.But, he just jumped.
That pretty much defines the player and personality: A talent that's flamboyant, a demeanour that's not, shots that are heady but a head that's steady; skill that's dizzying but feet firmly on the ground.
At 27, Federer is at an interesting cusp in his career. Having matured as a player and achieved more than anyone else, he says his love for the game and hunger for greater achievements remains alive. He has every reason to be delirious: he is delivering records while his wife Mirka Vavrinec gets ready to deliver their first baby. Yet, he underplays the celebration.u00a0
He is, today, the epitome of sportsmanship, the perfect gentleman, playing a gentleman's game with the finesse of a musician. Not for him the brute force of an Andy Roddick serve, the muscular punch of Rafael Nadal, the eccentricity of a Marat Safin. He is the man women would want to take home to their mothers, the well-pressed shirt fresh after a four-hour match, the neat shorts that do not dangle at the knees, the gold-lined crisp track shirt with the number 15 etched on the bottom.
But this is not the gentleman he always was.
The floppy hair held together under the headband was once strung into a pony tail, before that even streaked blond. The clean-shaven visage was once dotted with a stubble; the class monitor-like propriety preceded by racquet-throwing crassness.
At 14, he was sent by his parents, the Swiss-German Robert and the South African mother Lynette, from their home near Basle, to live at a Swiss junior training centre. The teenager suffered; his desire to convert talent to achievement was overshadowed by homesickness and frustration, which translated into loutish behaviour.
"I used to bitch a lot at line calls," Federer has admitted. For example, according to one newspaper report, when a new backstop material was installed on the training centre's courts, Federer was the first to put his racket through it, incurring a fine and punishment of court-cleaning duties. "That was very hard for me," he told The Independent in an interview in 2003; "because I hate to wake up early."
Anger-management classes were initiated, the now visible self-discipline was put in place. Advice from Peter Lundgren and Peter Carter, two coaches assigned to their most promising junior by the Swiss Tennis Federation, eventually resolved the conflict in young Federer's personality. Someone who acknowledges: "I used to carry on like an idiot," now claims: "I think it's funny when somebody freaks out."
Expectations rose from the time he won Junior Wimbledon as a 16-year-old in 1998 but it was not easy for Federer. He said in an interview, "People were telling me I was going to be the next great player. But at first I wasn't mentally strong enough, and I found myself getting frustrated when things didn't go my way." A far cry from the 2009 Wimbledon final, after which his defeated opponent Roddick said, "He just stayed the course. You didn't even get a sense that he was really frustrated by it."
His first pro title came in Milan, four months before he grabbed the limelight beating Sampras at the 2001 Wimbledon. The death of his coach Carter in a car crash shattered him, as soul searching led to changes in perspective and attitude. With the help of Lundgren, three ATP Tour titles followed which established Federer as indeed the next big-thing-in-the-making.
By then, the bad behaviour had been replaced with icy calm, his undeniable talent honed now by practice and hard labour. "I used to think I only wanted to play well in the Grand Slams, but I made up my mind I would play every event to win. People used to tell me how easy I made it look, so I kind of felt I had to live up to this and play miracle shots, the crowd-pleasing stuff. But I decided what I wanted was to win the match, not hit the best shot of the tournament. That was a big step for me mentally," he told reporters after his first Grand Slam win in 2003.
Lundgren once said Federer's acceptance that it was necessary to lose before he could win made him a better player.
Thus in an age of grunting bad boys and sleeveless shirts, Federer stood out as a pleasant aberration, with a single-handed quiet but lethal backhand, schoolboy-neat appearance and gracious sportsmanship. Never one for controversies, he only has kind words for all his opponents.
Like after this year's Australian Open, another loss to nemesis Rafael Nadal in the final left Federer shattered. At the presentation, he struggled to check emotions and choked into his acceptance speech which he could not initially deliver. Awkward moments passed as the organisers wondered if they should let the winner speak first. But Federer composed himself, took the mike and said, "Let me try again. I don't want to have the last word, this guy deserves it."
Federer is a winner, whether with words or with volleys.
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