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September 2004
Roger Federer Fanletter September 2004
By Roger Federer
Dear Tennis fans
Flushing Meadows, September 13, 2004, just after 7 p.m.: Lying flat on Centre
Court I look up to the darkening sky for a brief moment when a thought suddenly
strikes my mind: Now the world is yours! If you can make it in New York you can
make it anywhere. Next thing I know my emotions are overwhelming and I am
fighting back my tears. I see clearly again and get up for the shake-hands with
Lleyton.
I have just achieved the third Grand Slam victory this year a few seconds ago!
Amazing, unreal. I suppose I would have laughed at anyone having predicted such a
success beginning of this year. I had definitely set the goal of confirming my great
performance in 2003 and maybe even celebrating the one or other victory in
addition to that. But now this! I certainly would never had imagined this to ever
become reality, not even in my wildest dreams. Coming to think of it: every single
one of the Grand Slams has its very own history. The victory at the Australian Open
was incredibly important to me as I was not quite certain how the separation from
my coach Peter Lundgren just two months earlier would affect my game. Taking
home the cup in Melbourne was then proof to me that it can also be done without
the support of a coach. Repeating the victory in Wimbledon this year confirmed that
I am able to handle the enormous pressure of being the number one favourite out
there. And now the title in the vibrant arena of Flushing Meadows, the highest of
blessings in the American world of tennis. Obviously I am now constantly being
asked by the media when I am planning to conquer Roland Garros. Well, that is
certainly one of my main goals and I will give all I’ve got to get there. But I will not
put myself under pressure.
I was highly motivated to make up for the disappointing performance at the Olympic
Games. I had arrived in New York early in order to prepare intensely for the US
Open. The week before the tournament I gave a few interviews for CNN, USA
Networks, New York Times, USA Today and Sports Illustrated which had been
arranged beforehand. The reason for giving these interviews is not only because
working with the media is just part of the job, it is much more my desire to
contribute to the promotion of tennis in the US. I also took part in sponsor’s events
by Wilson, Nike and Maurice Lacroix, my watch-sponsor. Participating in the Nike-
Kids Day on the Saturday before the Open was great fun. Of course Mirka and I also
wanted some entertainment on our own, so we enjoyed the musicals “The Beauty
and the Beast” as well as “The Boy from Oz” on Broadway.
Well, this might sound like I did not train at all before the US Open! That was
definitely not the case, as you can imagine. I still had more than enough time to
practice on a daily basis and get used to the specific conditions in Flushing Meadows.
Having this time at my disposition gave me a lot of confidence for the challenges yet
to come. And my feeling was confirmed right from the beginning of the tournament,
starting with a clear victory over the experienced Albert Costa. And it continued in a
smooth way round after round. You know me: As soon as I am really into a
tournament I start feeling more and more confident. The match against Agassi then
certainly was a key to my further success. Winning the match was not just a victory
against one of the greatest tennis players of all times, it was also a victory against
my former weakness of getting distracted by difficult conditions. Rain delay on the
first day, strong winds on the second. The quarter final at the US Open 2004 is one
of the matches I will never ever forget; a milestone for my development as a tennis
player. Believe me, just five years ago I would have gone crazy with a wind like that,
I would probably never have managed to get my game together properly. Anyway, I
managed to put all this aside and was able to defeat Andre in five sets. That gave
me an enormous amount of mental strength for the final weekend. With all due
respect for Tim Henman’s game I was now able to approach the semi-final in a
much more confident way. But then the evening before the final my throat started
aching. Going to bed I hoped that it would not get any worse. Unfortunately I got up
the next morning with a rather bad cold. But what a relief when I noticed that it was
not all that bad after all. There was one further thing that was different: I had
always had at least one day off between the matches during the entire tournament
– except for the final! So I also felt a bit tired and had a strange feeling, not having
had enough time to prepare for Lleyton’s game mentally. It was clear that I needed
to play a perfect match and I was also aware of the fact that my name would
appear in the hall of fame should I manage to take home the title. I suppose it was
the strong confidence as well as the looseness I had gained from the match against
Agassi which helped me right from the start. I played like I very rarely do and
managed to hit the balls in an almost perfect way in the first set. This gave me the
certainty of being able to win the tournament already this year. The key to my
victory was then the tie-break in the second set.
And then I experienced the toughest after-match of my career: The Monday after
the final I – who love nothing more than sleeping in! - was invited to three morning
TV-shows. I was on “Cold Pizza” at ESPN, visited the “Early Show” in the CBS
Studios and was already in “Regis and Kelly” at 9.30 a.m. I dashed off to a photo
shooting at Times Square at 11 a.m., then had lunch with media in the Hard Rock
Café, enjoyed a chat with John McEnroe, which I had been looking forward to very
much. John’s wittiness and competence in tennis is just amazing and he is so much
fun talking to. To finish off my amazing tour I starred in the Charlie Rose TV-Show.
I must say that the whole media circus, the American way, was a most interesting
experience and somehow different to anything I had experienced before. In other
cities the celebrities from the show-business come to visit you. Here in New York
you tour around yourself and I found it extremely exciting to compare the shows
with the ones I know from different countries all over the world.
My diary
After the victory in Wimbledon and my first ATP-title on Swiss soil in Gstaad I
enjoyed my holidays in Dubai to the fullest. I do love warm climates, but at 47
degrees Celcius air temperature and 37 degrees water temperature it was
almost too hot for my liking. I relaxed on the beach with Mirka, enjoyed plenty
of wellness and indulged in doing nothing at all. I slept for long hours,
sometimes even during the day. Pure relaxation, as you can see! My most
sportily activity in Dubai was in a car – on the new Formula 1 track they are
building.
Because I am on the road so often I wanted to spend some time at home and
also deal with some business matters after my holidays. That was the reason
for my rather late arrival in Toronto, making my victory at the Canadian Open
just the more surprising! It had been a perfect week right from the beginning. I
focussed entirely on the matches and hardly did anything next to playing
tennis, merely going to the cinema twice („Spiderman 2“ and „The Bourne
Supremacy“) and enjoying the excellent food in a variety of Japanese
restaurants in Toronto.
Unfortunately Cincinnati did not work out at all. Given the fact that Hrbaty
played a really good match the defeat was not too hard to deal with.
The Olympic Games in Athens were a wonderful event. Being able to march into
the stadium with the Swiss delegation and carrying the flag for my home
country was one of the most impressive experiences in my life. It was also
extremely moving to see all the other delegations, proudly representing their
countries in such a colourful way. I had the strong feeling of belonging to one
huge, international family in just that moment. The atmosphere in Athens was
very relaxed and it was a great occasion to meet sportsmen and –women from
all kinds of countries and disciplines. I was able to meet Carl Lewis, amongst
many others. Unfortunately my experiences on the tennis court were not quite
as encouraging. The bitter defeat against unleashed Tomas Berdych was not
easy to take at first. But with a couple of weeks of distance and my triumph at
the US Open I am now able to look back and consider the early out at the
Olympics as a good experience which I can learn from. I am already looking
forward to the next Games in Beijing in four years time.
A flying visit to California and on tour in Asia
After the marathon with the media in New York I took a week off in California.
It was my first visit to Los Angeles and Hollywood. Thanks to my excellent
contacts to Arthur Cohn, a film producer from my home city Basel and six-time
Oscar winner, Mirka and I had the opportunity to meet movie legend Kirk
Douglas and the magician David Copperfield. And we even coincidentally met
Danny de Vito in the street. I don’t admire all these people just because they
are celebrities but because they have come all this way and are strong
personalities.
The week in the Sunshine State was perfect to loosen the tension after the US
Open and also take my mind off tennis. I am now really looking forward to
playing tennis again and also travelling around in Asia a bit. The Masters in
Shanghai three years ago has been my first real tournament in Asia. I don’t
know these areas of the world all that well yet but the impressions I have had
until now have only been positive. I admire their enthusiastic way as well as
their warmth and hospitality. And of course I love the Asian cuisine, especially
the light Japanese way of cooking. I am looking forward to learning a lot more
about this fascinating continent. I will certainly keep you updated on all the
details of my trip and the tournament in Bangkok in my next newsletter.
My first steps
At the age of 6, I played for the fun of it. I could never really get enough. I
played with my parents, friends and whoever wanted to play with me at the
tennis club. If there was no one to play with I would spend hours smacking
tennis balls against the tennis wall. Already then I was told to have excellent
coordination skills, not only in tennis. As a matter of fact I had a flair for all
different kinds of sports and tried skateboarding, basketball, table-tennis,
badminton, football, wrestling, skiing, swimming and I spent hours playing
softball tennis on the street. But my favourite game next to tennis definitely
was football. My parents considered football a perfect balance for team sport
and fitness. So I practiced both sports for a long time, not able to decide which
one of the two I wanted to focus on. But then, at the age of twelve, I chose
tennis.
I started having tennis group practice at the age of 9, i.e. three times a week
(2 x 2 hours and 1 x one and a half hours), and an occasional private lesson.
Fixed private coaching started at the age of 10, one lesson of 40 minutes
weekly. I regularly played tournaments over the weekends. At the age of 12 I
had one hour of fitness training weekly.
I became Junior Champion in all age groups in Switzerland and was selected to
join the Swiss National Tennis Center in the French-speaking Ecublens (at the
time) run by the Swiss Tennis Federation in order to fully concentrate on tennis
at the age of 14. I had tennis training or fitness/coordination training about 2
hours daily.
This continued until I finished school and became a professional at the age of
16. From then on I started playing more and more international junior
tournaments and was away quite often. Blocks of fitness and tennis training
were arranged according to my annual tennis tournament schedule. Until I
became a professional the tennis, fitness and tournament planning was done in
coordination with the Swiss Tennis Federation, the coaches, fitness trainers and
my parents.
I was already told at an early age that I had great talent. However, talent alone
does not make good tennis player. Once I made it successfully to the ATP tour
in 1998 I began working even harder on specific aspects of my game. I
continually improved my technique, optimised my footwork and developed
more strength. This process of constant technical and physical development still
continues today. There is still room for improvement in different areas.
Your suggestions for the improvement of my website
In my last newsletter I had asked you for your comments on my website. I
would like to thank you for the large number of comments, compliments and
critical remarks! The variety of suggestions is large: more pictures, an
improved photo gallery, more interviews and newspaper-articles on me, liveresults,
easier navigation, more information and pictures on my youth, a French
version of the website additionally to the English and German one etc.
We have taken them all into account and have started implementing a few all
ready, as you most probably have noticed. Our aim is clearly to offer all of you
a platform meeting your needs. One thing is certain: There are a lot of exciting
changes to come!
Take care, bis bald, à bientôt
Your Roger
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