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April 2002 Issue
The World According to Roger Federer
By Dan Markowitz, TENNIS Magazine
Roger
Federer is primed to become the biggest star from Switzerland since
Martina Hingis. His fluid all-court game and one-handed backhand are
uncannily similar to Pete Sampras’. Until recently, Federer, 20, even
used the same racquet (the Wilson Pro Staff Original 6.0). Of course,
there’s the matter of the record 13 Grand Slams that separates the two
of them. Still, the man they call the Federer Express has proven he’s
the complete package. Last year, he finished just outside the Top 10,
won his first pro title (Milan), and ended Sampras’ four-year run at
Wimbledon. Here’s what Federer had to say about the historic upset, his
rising star, and what he does for kicks.
BJORN
AGAIN “Meeting Bjorn Borg in Monte Carlo [in 2001] was the best. He’s a
good friend of my coach, Peter Lundgren. I wanted badly to meet him.
When I beat Sampras at Wimbledon, he called Peter’s cell phone and
congratulated me and told me how happy he was I’d stopped Sampras from
winning five Wimbledons in a row [Borg’s record].”
THE
LADIES’ MAN? “I wouldn’t say I’m shy toward women. But I’m just
careful, and I usually don’t look for women. It just has to happen.
People ask me if female groupies sleep in front of my hotel room or
door at home, and I say, ‘No way!’”
TAKING
IT TO THE STREET “We have this big day in Basel called the Street
Parade. DJs play a lot of music, mostly trance, and there are thousands
of people dancing on trucks and in the streets and everyone’s
half-naked. I have a couple of drinks and hang out.”
TIME OUT “I like going to South Africa. And I like going on safari or deep-sea fishing.”
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