Extremely interesting from the Tennis Legend: Roger Federer gives a moving answer to a lifelong question

The Swiss champion, in the new Louis Vuitton campaign with Rafael Nadal, answered a question that we have all asked ourselves at least once.

When we talk about sporting legends, the mind immediately goes to Roger Federer, the man who embodied the Essene of tennis. The former Swiss champion lent himself to the Louis Vuitton campaign together with his friend and rival Rafael Nadal. In the chat, Roger talked about many topics, one of which is extremely interesting. Also because it is a question that all of us, for better or worse, have asked ourselves at least once: what do you want to be remembered for?

“The greatest achievement in sport was becoming ATP No.1 and, in general, I am happy with my career. One of the secrets is perhaps also a small thing that you add to your game. Even when you are playing well, there is always something you can do to improve. What would I tell Roger as a child? To surround myself with the right people, choose the best ones who can inspire me and motivate me to get to the top.

When you are young you don’t want to hear certain things, but you have to trust the people who want your best: parents, coaches, athletic trainers, physiotherapists. My inspirations were Stefan Edberg as a tennis player. Also Pete Sampras. They are special people in my life. Stefan also trained me for two years and it was special. I like basketball and, clearly, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal inspired me,” explained Roger.

But now let’s go back to the question I talked about at the beginning of the article and which was also asked to Roger Federer: how do you want to be remembered?

The Swiss Maestro admitted: “I don’t just want to be remembered for the tennis player I was, but also for the person.
What I did and represented for tennis. I would like to be remembered for my personality as well as the player I was. Being a role model for children would make me happy.”

We recall that Roger Federer’s last days of his glorious career will be told in the Amazon Prime docu-series Twelve Final Days. June 20, 2024 is the date on which the series will be distributed: the day that all fans of the Swiss champion – who announced his retirement from competitions on September 15, 2022 with a last appearance in the Laver Cup that year scheduled in London – they wait with trepidation. In the released trailer, Roger asks his fans: Ready? He said this while he sits at a desk; on the table, in front of him, the paper containing the words with which he retired. The series will most likely retrace the most important stages in the history and glorious career of Roger, the first player to reach 20 Grand Slam titles and then focus on the last days at the Laver Cup. There will certainly be moving and touching scenes, with the family as protagonists: below is the trailer published by Prime Video to announce the release of the video:

Roger, as I said above, retired at the Laver Cup 2022. A fate that, perhaps, could also follow Rafel Nadal, at the Laver Cup 2024. Andy Roddick in his podcast Served with Andy Roddick, said he was worried that Rafa would not be able to retire as he would like, a something similar to what happened, in his opinion, with Federer. Roddick explained that injuries are affecting Nadal a lot. Rafa, who should play at the Roland Garros, was the subject of a long speech by Roddick, a few weeks ago, on the eve of the Barcelona Open.

“I hope in the back of my mind that he recovers and doesn’t end his career like this. He doesn’t need to be healthy for 52 weeks, he needs to be healthy for two months, for these two months. Just do everything you can, take all the painkillers you have to take and we all know that the Spaniard’s big goal on this clay tour has always been to reach Roland Garros, his temple. His intention is to arrive on the field Philippe Chatrier with possibilities,” explained Roddick.

The former US legend hopes that the Spaniard can say goodbye to tennis as he has always dreamed of.

“I always thought we would have a Nadal saying goodbye there, who maybe doesn’t win, but imagine him winning the third round at Roland Garros, a difficult four-set match, with the crowd cheering him. Roger retired in the Laver Cup. He probably wouldn’t say it out loud, but Roger wanted to retire at Wimbledon or the US Open. He wanted to bid them farewell. And I wouldn’t want us to be approaching a reality of not saying goodbye where he would also like for Rafa Nadal,” he said.