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Tuesday, 17 May, 2005
Model pro Federer a worthy winner
By Jonathan Overend, BBC
When I asked Roger Federer in Houston last year why he spends so much time speaking to the media, his first response was: "You guys make me laugh."
That was, of course, followed by a careful appreciation of his responsibility (as world number one) to promote the sport.
This was illustrated earlier this season in Melbourne when he was recording an interview for Sportsweek.
He offered to walk the length of a corridor and back again so the studio could check for the best mobile phone reception.
In Hamburg recently my radio chat with him was restricted to three questions.
Not ideal but Roger, being Roger, offered three thoughtful responses lasting just under three minutes. Perfect.
In my football interviewing days, you could ask 10 questions and still not get three minutes.
It would normally be "each-game-as-it-comes" nonsense
from a gum-chewing player with half an eye on the bar or half a foot on
the bus.
But Federer provides a magnificent relief. Here is a champion who is
genuinely interested in those who show an interest in him.
He may get bored of the "can you win the French?"
question or - even worse - the inconsequential enquiry "would you beat
Sampras?" But he never shows it.
The news conference is a peculiar ritual, but Federer is the model professional.
Like the other players, he's contractually obliged to
speak after every match but, for this multi-lingual clever clogs, that
means in English, French and Swiss-German.
Chuck him a poser in ancient Greek and he'll probably surprise you with a lucid response.
I mention all this because he's just won Sportsman of the Year at the Laureus Awards.
He fully deserves it not just for his outstanding efforts on the tennis court, but also his exemplary attitude off it.
At a time when some tennis officials appear to be taking
coverage of their sport for granted, Federer realises his duty to keep
it at the forefront of the public conscience - worldwide.
And what a story he is becoming.
Twenty seven titles at the age of 23, four of them Grand
Slam events, he's already won six this year and, most amazingly of all,
he's won the last 19 finals he's played.
That sequence dates back to October 2003.
The last final he lost was at Gstaad in Switzerland in July 2003, the
tournament immediately after his debut Wimbledon victory (yes, Juliette
the cow and all that).
Jiri Novak doesn't have too many claims to fame but, the
way things are going, he'll be regaling friends and family for years
about the day he beat Federer in that final.
If he now wins Roland Garros, to complete the set of all
four majors, columnists will need to grab for even more
super-superlatives and the record books will be re-written.
Federer's trophy cabinet is getting severely clogged by oddly shaped glassware, and his earnings are getting silly.
But those feet which dance so fluently around the tennis court remain, in metaphorical terms, firmly on the ground.
That's the most joyful thing about this most deserving winner of the Sportsman of the Year accolade.
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