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March 25, 2005
No room for ego at the top
By Dave Hyde, Sun-Sentinel
KEY BISCAYNE -- Roger
Federer should be embarrassed at being the No. 1 player in tennis. Just
look at him. He has no agent, no publicist, no security guard, not even
a coach for the TV cameras to focus on.
His entire entourage typically consists of two people -- his girlfriend and trainer. That's it. You call this the world's top tennis player?
And ego? Doesn't No. 1 come with a let-net full of that?
Well, earlier this week, at the Nasdaq-100's pro-am day, Federer didn't
call a limo or even a golf cart to ferry him across the tournament
grounds to his match in the way tennis heavyweights always do.
He walked. Alone. Amid gawking fans.
"Isn't that ...?"
"Why's he ...?
Mr. No. 1 In The World even stopped and autographed for whoever asked.
"I don't need special treatment," Federer explained.
You think Jimmy Connors ever said that? Or even Pete Sampras? You think
John McEnbrat ever won the men's Player of the Year award and was voted by fellow competitors winner of the Stefan Edberg Sportsman of the Year trophy?
Don't winning and sportsmanship run crosscurrent to each other?
Well, Federer picked up both prizes earlier this week. The only other
player to win both in the same year got the sportsmanship award named
for him.
Of course, the way people talk in tennis, Federer might get his name on
the Player of the Year trophy before he's through. He has lost one of
27 matches in 2005. He has won a record 17 finals dating to 2003. He
won three of four Grand Slam events last year, the first player to
accomplish that since Mats Wilander in 1988.
He's beaten No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt in seven straight matches and 12 consecutive sets.
Listen to how someone who knew how to role-play No. 1 with the big agent and entourage talks about Federer.
"There's probably not a department in his game that couldn't be
considered the best in that department," Andre Agassi said. "You watch
him play Hewitt and everybody marvels at Hewitt's speed, as well as
myself. And you start to realize, `Is it possible Federer even moves
better?'"
"Then you watch him play Andy [Roddick], and you go, `Andy has a big
forehand. Is it possible Federer's forehand is the best in the game?'
You watch him at the net, you watch him serve-volley somebody that
doesn't return so well and you put him up there with the best in every
department."
"You see him play from the ground against those that play from the
ground for a living, and argue he does it better than anybody."
Agassi gives a dramatic pause.
"So he's good," he says.
Meanwhile, here's how Mr. Humblespeak explains his success.
"Maybe the difference is big in the rankings, but I feel they're
all right there to beat me when I'm maybe just a little bit off," he
said.
He talks that way in five languages, too. The Swiss native is fluent in
German, French and English. He also speaks some Swedish and Italian. He
can count to 10 in Turkish, too, thanks to a kid who immigrated to his
elementary school. The kid was picked on by several Swiss boys,
including Federer, whose mother suggested he hear about the Turkish
kid's life instead.
Maybe this helps explain why Federer is a such an abnormal No. 1. His
parents didn't shove him into the sport and then use him as a
piggybank. Why, at 14, his mother actually took away his rackets until
he promised to behave properly on the court.
Now he's winning the sportsmanship trophy on the court and acting even
better off it. A few months ago, he suggested the top players do
something to help tsunami victims and a charity tournament went off.
Two weeks ago, he was in South Africa (his mother is South African),
where his new foundation educates children in the ghetto of New
Brighton.
"Tennis is just part of life," he said.
He's 23, and he's got it figured out.
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