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November 17, 2005
The man behind the champion
By Beijing Weekend, China Daily
On
Sunday when Roger Federer, started his bid for a third straight Tennis
Masters Cup title with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over David Nalbandian,
the 24-year-old, showed the sparse crowd at the 15,000 seater Qizhong
stadium in Shanghai why he has been the No 1 player in the world for
the past two years. The top-ranked Swiss is recovering from an
ankle injury, but he moved smoothly against the eighth-seeded
Argentine. In the third set, when he was 1-3 behind, he fought back
from triple break point, to hold serve in the third game, then broke
Nalbandian in the sixth game to capture the opening set. "I took
the opportunity he gave me," said Federer as quoted by Accoiated Press,
referring to a match-winning stretch in which he won five of the last
six games. He won 14 of 18 points to build a 5-3 lead. The next
day the tennis player was formally crowned year-end number one for the
second year running in a lavish ceremony in the same stadium. Federer
was greeted by thousands of screaming fans as he picked up his latest
accolade. Federer has held the top ranking for 94 consecutive
weeks since last February. He will soon pass the 102 consecutive weeks
that Sampras spent at No 1 to be third on the list behind Jimmy Connors
with 160 weeks and Ivan Lendl at 157 weeks. By Tuesday when he
won his match over sixth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the
season-ending tournament, his record for the year is 80-3. With this,
he has equalled John McEnroe's match-winning percentage record (.965)
in a calendar year, the best of the men's professional-era. And
there are already six major titles under his belt, back-to-back US
Opens, three straight Wimbledon victories and one Australian Open. He
is already proclaimed by many as the greatest male tennis player in
history, including by Andre Agassi, whom he defeated in this year's US
Open final, and is no doubt an international superstar on the court. Off
the court he also proves to be star, as a successful businessman, an
enthusiast for charity and a loving friend, family member and boyfriend. Last September saw him to bring IMG, the world's largest sports marketing and management agency, into his management team. Two
years ago, he founded the Roger Federer Foundation to help
underprivileged children in South Africa. And he has maintained a
steady five-year relationship with his girlfriend, Miroslava (Mirka)
Vavrinec, whom he got to know in the Sydney Olympic Games. For
the tournament in Shanghai, Federer arrived five days earlier. Besides
preparation for the matches, he had taken the opportunity to help
promote Maurice Lacroix, a young Swiss watch brand that has invited him
to be its global ambassador. In a grand gathering on November 8
organized by the watch brand, Federer showed up in smart casual wear,
jeans topped with a wool jacket, and appeared as a bright, polite,
relaxed and thoughtful young man. The tennis star shared some time with
BJW talking about his tennis career, business and personal life. What inspired you to play tennis? I
loved sports as a very small child already and was fascinated by
anything to do with balls, soccer, table tennis, squash, etc. As my
parents played a lot of tennis and took me along I guess that is where
I developed a love for the sport. What's the most impressive moment in your life? The
one thing I am very proud of is the Roger Federer Foundation. That's
something next to tennis, very important to me. It is to help
underprivileged children in South Africa, where my mother came from. About
my career, my first win at Wimbledon was the most special thing I've
ever achieved, although I've already won it three times now. That was
very special moment when I became the world No 1. You know, as you win
the Wimbledom championship, you are the best (he chuckles). You have a
very special feeling, maybe in a month, you become world No 1. All you
have is the very proud feeling. What persuaded you to become the global ambassador of Maurice Lacroix? I have always loved Maurice Lacroix or I wouldn't be their ambassador. I guess we are both young and successful Swiss brands. The
way they work with the equipment is very impressive. You can see they
are very interested in what they do. And the precision they have to
display is the same way with tennis. In my business, everything has to
be right. Nothing is allowed to be wrong, otherwise you won't win the
match. What are your expectations for the future? If I
want to be an all time great, I have to keep it up for the year to
come. I've already showed them over the past two or three years, I can
do it. So I guess this is going to happen. But you have to stay
healthy. If you are not, you can't do it. I enjoy it anyway. How do you balance your tennis career and your personal life? That's
very important to me. When I get away from the tennis court, I spend a
lot of time with Mirka. You know she does a lot of waiting for me,
which sometimes she is not so ready for. But she is great for that. She
is a great help, makes my life much easier, more comfortable since I
gotta feel good also off the court. It wasn't easy when I first won the
first Wimbledon champion.
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