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Friday January 14, 2005
Federer works hard on the big easy
By Eleanor Preston, The Guardian
Eleanor Preston in Melbourne hears why even as gifted a talent as the world No1 can't afford an off-day
Watching
Roger Federer play tennis, it is hard to believe he has ever found
anything difficult in his life. Moving with such grace, he seems so
utterly in command of what he is doing that hitting a fluffy ball with
a handful of graphite and Kevlar might as well be breathing in and out.
If he had a
franc for every time someone in the bleachers or the commentary box has
said he made tennis look easy he would be a good deal richer than he is
already. Speak with him away from press-conference platitudes, though,
and it does not take him long to persuade you that the business of
being a fledgling legend is a sight harder than his laid-back demeanour
and velvet shots make it seem. "Once
you get on a run you are just trying to keep it up. That sounds very
easy but it's not, because you have to stay professional, you have to
wake up every day for this one match, then you win and you play for the
next match and it goes on and on and on," he says. "I
find it hard to stay professional all the time and I'd love to have
more time for my friends, my family, my girlfriend, for vacations, but
I know that my career won't last 50 years so I might as well do it
properly for 10, then I can say I've had enough and take it easy. But
I'm young and I love tennis and I'm not here to go on vacation and stay
on the practice court. I'm an absolute match player." Few
would argue, especially not the likes of Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt
and Marat Safin, all of whom spent last year in Federer's slipstream.
All three are great players and grand slam winners but none made even a
tiny dent in the huge pile of ranking points Federer amassed in winning
three of the season's four grand slams and the year-end Masters Cup in
Houston.
It
was one of those occasions when the epithet "world No1" seemed
pathetically inadequate; for Roddick and the rest it must have been
like trying to doggy-paddle past Michael Phelps. Now,
in 2005, Federer is attempting to do it all again, starting with the
defence of his Australian Open title, which begins on Monday, and
should he do so the hyperbole about whether he will turn out to be one
of the greatest players of all time will turn up a notch. At
23 he has won four grand slams, one fewer at that age than Pete
Sampras, a man whose record of 14 major titles he looks more than
capable of surpassing. "I think it's the wrong approach for people to
think that I have the chance to break this record or that record,
because I don't care about all the records that other people have
done," Federer counters, keen perhaps to minimise the fuss that
perpetually surrounds him. "I'm
not here to beat this guy's record or that guy's record. If I equal it
or beat records then that's nice but I want to be remembered as Roger
Federer, for what he has done, as a good player and idol to kids,
because I'm not just acting out there on the court. This is me and I
hope that the fans, especially kids, like to play like me and like my
attitude and maybe want to be a little bit like me. I'm very proud that
there might be kids out there saying 'I want to play like him' or 'I
want to have his talent'." Certainly
the rest of the locker room yearns to be able to do what he can do with
a tennis ball, even those who have claims to greatness themselves.
"He's got the hands and the balance to be one of the best of all time,
across the generations," says Martina Navratilova, an idol of the Swiss
player. "Federer would still be a magician if you put a wooden racket
in his hands." The
magician, speaking in his quiet but certain tone, is charmingly bemused
by his own success and the preternatural talents that have helped him
achieve it. "I spend my whole time being amazed," he says. "It's always
a surprise to me. Sometimes I watch my matches in replay and I think
'Jeez, how did I pull that shot out?' or 'How lucky did I get with that
rally?' but that's how tennis is, you know? It's played on instinct,
it's natural and it's all about reaction and making the right decision
when you only have a fraction of a second to think about it. Making the
right choice is always the hardest thing." Federer
is not the sort of sportsman to ignore his multiple blessings in favour
of a good whinge, but he is certainly keen to stress that there is far
more to what he has done than merely hitting the ball across the net. "You
are standing there in front of thousands of people and you're trying to
play your best and sometimes it just doesn't go like that. It's
difficult. When you go and work in an office you don't have the best
day every day but in our job the physical and the mental strengths have
to be there, and the private life has to be intact so you don't lose
your mind during changeovers and start thinking about weird stuff," he
says. "It's very hard to keep it up but I've set myself a goal that in
10 years I can go and do something else, maybe something totally
different outside tennis, but whatever I do I want to enjoy it. "I've
always dreamed of winning Wimbledon, of being No1 in the world, of
leading the rankings, and I have to enjoy these moments. You should
never forget how thankful you should be to the sport." He
expresses his thanks through tirelessly working with the media in a way
that puts some of his less successful locker-room colleagues to shame.
He is renowned among communications and tournament staff for his
willingness to do more than his fair share of interviews and his
linguistic gifts mean that he frequently has to do so in German, French
and English. "I
never dreamed of being famous when I was younger - I only ever dreamed
of winning Wimbledon and holding up that trophy. I never imagined that
it takes so much around tennis. The fans, they see you out on the court
and maybe they think 'He's a great player' but I don't know if they
realise how much we are doing off court in trying to improve the game
and the image of the sport, which from my point of view are very, very
important. "I
don't get too nervous before interviews but I do worry that I'm going
to say the wrong thing, especially when I'm swapping between
vocabularies." Whether
it is interviews or scything through an opponent out on the court, it
seems that being Roger Federer is anything but easy.
Federer's year of wonders Australian Open February 1 Dropped two sets during the tournament, beating Marat Safin in the final. Dubai March 6 Beat Feliciano López in the final. Indian Wells March 21 Beat the British No1 Tim Henman in the final. Hamburg May 16 An impressive win on clay, beating Guillermo Coria in the final. French Open May 29 Suffered only defeat in a grand slam, losing to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round. Halle June 13 Beat Mardy Fish in final. Wimbledon July 4 Successfully defended his title, beating Andy Roddick in the final. Gstaad July 11 Won his first title on home soil, beating Igor Andreev in the final. Toronto August 1 Won fourth successive event, again beating Roddick in the final. Olympics August 17 Suffered his last defeat of the year in the second round at the Athens Olympics. US Open September 12 Defeated
Andre Agassi in a five-set classic at the quarter-final stage, Henman
in the semi-finals and Lleyton Hewitt in the final for his third grand
slam of the year. Bangkok October 3 Beat Roddick in final yet again. Masters Cup, Houston November 21 Dropped one set during tournament and beat Hewitt in the final. 2004 stats His 11 titles were the most by a player ending the year as No1 since Ivan Lendl did the same in 1985. Became first player since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three grand slam titles in a season. Compiled records of 46-4 on hard, 16-2 on clay and 12-0 on grass. Earned $6,357,547 (£3.35m), just short of record set by Pete Sampras in 1997 ($6,498,311).
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