|
March 20, 2005
Heroes' Heroes: Roger Federer, Wimbledon champion and world No 1, on Boris Becker
Interview by Barry Flatman, The Sunday Times
TEARS
and Wimbledon finals: I guess for me, after failing to keep a grip on
my emotions as Sue Barker interviewed me minutes after collecting my
first title on Centre Court, the two will be forever linked. Yet I’m
informed by my parents that I was crying about the outcome of a
previous final 15 years before my 2003 triumph. The reason? My first
sporting hero, Boris Becker, had been beaten. To a six-year-old, defeat all seemed so tragic. How was I to know
that Becker would go on to win his third Wimbledon title a year later?
Or that he would also collect the champion’s trophies at the Australian
Open twice and the US Open? Or that five-and-a- half years after he
first threw himself to victory on that most beautiful of tennis lawns,
he would finally become the world’s No 1 ranked tennis player? I hadn’t
even started playing tennis back then, but I knew that where I came
from, Boris was everybody’s favourite player. As
I became more knowledgeable about tennis, I came to appreciate the man
who beat my hero was another great player. Stefan Edberg was a
wonderful stylist of the art of serve and volley and one of the most
fluent athletes ever to play the game. Friends tried to persuade me
that Edberg’s game was classier than Becker’s and more akin to my
style. If I wanted a hero, it should be the Swede whose kicked serve
and backhand were supreme. I understood what they were saying and did
not need any prompting to respect Edberg. Nevertheless, Becker was
still the man for me. Look at the way he took the sport by surprise. He was just 17
when he won that first title in 1985. But Becker’s game was immense. It
was the era of ‘Boom Boom’ and nobody was able to stand in his way. With my home town of Basel situated on the Rhine, it’s hardly
surprising that the German influence is strong, and the more I became
aware of tennis, the more Becker’s fame struck me. Then, as indeed now,
he had an immense presence whenever you saw him on the television. Not
just playing tennis, but even being interviewed, he seemed to fill up
the screen and look every inch a star. He played in the same way, he
did everything big and must have been so intimidating to play against. I have confronted him only once on the court, in an exhibition
match for charity in Geneva 18 months ago. It was an ambition
fulfilled, although I had already got to know him a little. To be told
he admires my tennis is a boost and I feel touched that he says so many
nice things about me. I am not alone when I say that Wimbledon is the most special
place in tennis for me. Although I revere the feats of Pete Sampras in
winning seven years out of eight as a magnificent achievement, it is
the memory of those three consecutive Becker finals with Edberg that
set my imagination racing and put me on course to where I am today
|
