“You have to wonder if he’s from the same planet.”
Over the past 20 years it was not only Novak Djokovic who wondered if Roger Federer had been crafted and dropped onto Centre Court by the tennis gods.
The greats excel in sport.
Federer, who has announced he will retire later this month, was also one of a select few who could draw you in and grab your heart, while seemingly reaching perfection.
Others may now have won more titles – let’s leave the ‘GOAT’ debate for another day – but for many the once stroppy youngster was sport at its pure best.
With a graceful swish of a forehand, a pinpoint delivery of a serve or a gentle wave to the crowd, the Swiss legend gained fans unlike anyone before him.
The 41-year-old’s skills were learned on the courts of the Swiss National Tennis Centre in Basel.
As a teenager he was supremely talented but known for his temper. It is said he was given the punishment of cleaning toilets after one costly throw of the racket aged 16.
It may now be a distant memory but Federer’s penchant for petulance continued into his early years on the professional tour.
“It took me like two years to find that fire and ice,” he said in 2018. “The fire to win but the ice coolness to absorb losses and bad mistakes. Then my career went through the roof.”
In truth, when Federer found that state his game did not just go through the roof, it continued into another stratosphere.
After making his name as a 19-year-old by beating Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001 and a year after the death of his influential early coach in a car accident, Federer won his first of a record eight men’s SW19 titles in 2003 – and cried during his post-match interview with Sue Barker to endear himself to a nation.
In the four years that followed he won 11 of the 16 available Grand Slams in a period of dominance the sport had rarely seen.
A swagger, shown in the gold-trimmed cardigans worn on court, was now fully justified.
Another eight Slams would come across the next 11 years but Federer’s story, and his popularity, has been shaped by crushing lows too.
The first came in 2008 when he was beaten in the Centre Court gloom by Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final – a five-set epic widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis contests of all-time.
Six months later when the Spaniard denied him again in the Australian Open, the Swiss broke down in tears.
“God this is killing me,” he said.
A great was forced to bare his soul.
But in June…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at BBC Sport – Tennis…