Roger Federer: The hothead discovers his zen
Has Roger Federer always been as level-headed as he looks on the tennis court? No, by no means - in his youth the "Maestro" hardly had to hide from John McEnroe. But how did the change come about? A reading sample from Simon Graf's reissued Federer biography.
by Simon Graf
last edit: Nov 17, 2020, 08:14 am
Tennis is a simple sport. Unless you play yourself. Because the potential for frustration is considerable. You constantly have to make decisions and improvise within fractions of a second. Something always goes wrong. And between the rallies and games you have plenty of time to think about what you should have done differently. Those who strive for perfection like the young Roger Federer inevitably have to fail because of their demands. Anger comes up and has to get out somehow. Fortunately, as a tennis player, you always have a racket in your hand on which to vent your frustration.
Legendary is the story of how Federer, as a teenager, perforated the curtain at the national tennis academy in Biel, which had just been purchased and separated the courts. "It was so fat that I thought: It is impossible to destroy it," says the repentant perpetrator in the TV documentary Replay . “But ten minutes later I hurled my racket, it spun in the air like the rotor of a helicopter and cut the curtain like a knife through butter. Everyone stopped playing and looked at me. I thought: That's not possible! " He packs his things and leaves - he would have been kicked out anyway. There was an express warning against damage to the new curtain. As a punishment, he has to clean the toilets, vacuum offices, and prepare the places for a week between six and seven in the morning. For him, who is anything but an early bird and still years away from getting to know the seriousness of life as a father of a family, this is the maximum penalty.
Even the exiled Czech Adolf «Seppli» Kacovsky, his first coach, has to struggle with the exuberant temperament of the young Basel bidder. And journalist René Stauffer, a Federer connoisseur of the first hour, recalls in his biography Das Tennisgenie what a lasting impression the highly talented junior made on him when he first saw him - at the World Youth Cup in Zurich at the age of 15. Not only did Federer's talent immediately catch his eye, but also how wild and uncontrolled he behaved between rallies: “His racket sat loosely in his hand, he kept flying across the pitch. In addition, Federer spoke to himself almost continuously, or better: he cursed himself. 'Duubel!', Idiot, he called in a broad Basel dialect when one of his balls just missed the line. He sometimes even criticized himself when he had won the point but was not satisfied with the way he performed. He didn't seem to notice what was happening around him. "
This is often embarrassing to his parents. "We were never angry with Roger for losing a match," says mother Lynette. "But often because of his behavior on the pitch." In 2016, Federer tells a story from his younger days, when father Robert ran off the pitch in frustration with Roger's outbursts of anger: “He said to me: 'I don't feel like playing with you anymore.' He put a five-franc piece on top of the one next to me Bank and said goodbye with the words: 'I'll go, see you at home.' I couldn't believe that he would leave me alone. Because it took the bus 45 minutes to get home. I waited an hour for him to come back. But he did not appear again. When I went to the parking lot and saw that our car was gone, I realized that it was really gone. " On another occasion Robert stopped the car on the top of a pass on the way home from a junior tournament. His son was still angry about his game when his father pulled him out of the car and stuck his head in the snow - to cool his hot temper.
Mother Lynette used to say to Roger: “Your bad behavior is an invitation to your opponent. You mean to him: Today I'm beatable. " But all these lessons and words fail at first. Even in his first years on the professional tour, Federer's outbursts of anger caused a stir. In the round of 16 of Roland Garros 2000, for example, which he loses in three sets to the favored Spaniard Alex Corretja, he throws his bat four times around in a very short time. Of course there is a YouTube compilation of it. In Rome in 2001 against Marat Safin, who can also be said to have no lack of temperament, he and the Russian outbid each other in dealing with the work equipment. After the second movement, a few scenes are played on the big screen. Federer looks up briefly and sees that not the successful balls, but the emotional outbursts of the two hotheads are shown. “You could see how angry he was, I was angry. He, I, he, I, he, I, »he says in Jubeljahre , the book about the Swiss success story in tennis. Federer continues: “I was embarrassed. I thought: It really doesn't have to be. The bigger the stage got, the more I became aware of the importance of respect and decency. You just have to have certain experiences. "
From 17 to 19 he used the services of the Basel sports psychologist Christian Marcolli. Although Federer was often quick-tempered and uncontrolled at that time, Marcolli noticed even then that the future tennis star was also a natural talent in the mental field. On the one hand because of his passion for this sport: Because he is so close to defeat, he is encouraged to do everything possible to avoid them in the future. On the other hand, because of his ability to learn: it was amazing how quickly he was able to process and implement new information, says Marcolli. Federer never commented in detail on the collaboration with the sports psychologist, in 2009 he touched on it at a press conference at the Monte Carlo tournament. "Back then it was primarily about coping with aggression," he says. It is the only time in his career that he calls in a psychologist: “I realized pretty quickly that it was me. That I no longer need someone to tell me how to behave. My parents and friends had told me so many times before. It was easy for me to decide when to try the quieter version of Roger Federer. "
Many see the death of his ex-coach Peter Carter on August 1, 2002 as the trigger for his transformation into "Mister Cool" (see Chapter 6). He himself never explicitly described this tragic event, a week before his 21st birthday, as a turning point. The process starts much earlier. Such a change in the head doesn't happen overnight, Federer first has to find his new identity on the pitch. For a while he is even too calm. "Most of the greats have a lot of temperament," says Heinz Günthardt, the Swiss tennis pioneer and success coach of Steffi Graf. «This energy is important. It drives you forward. But you have to learn how to deal with this inner fire. And there is no question that a fire is blazing in Federer. Otherwise his enduring career would never have been possible. He knew how to keep this flame burning. " So the question is, how do you let your energy out without harming yourself.
For example, Stan Wawrinka, the other Swiss Grand Slam champion, plays better when he breathes his anger, smashes a bat and breaks it above his knee. (Warning: Please do not copy! Wawrinka is also an exceptional talent in this discipline!) Jimmy Connors started talking to the audience when he felt uncomfortable and drew inspiration from it again. Rebel John McEnroe had to get angry, preferably with the referee or the linesman, to get himself into a game frenzy with anger in his stomach. With the young Federer, however, the anger is almost always counterproductive because it is not directed against others, but against himself. And whoever begins to struggle with himself doesn't play better afterwards, but worse.
"I was an emotional boy," he looks back at the drawing ceremony for the Australian Open in early 2018. «I cried after losing matches, hurled rackets, and commented on every failed shot. And cursed how bad I was. When I went on the professional tour, I felt the pressure even more, I wanted to do it particularly well. That ate me up. At some point I thought: my career cannot go on like this! Otherwise I'm a nervous wreck at 25. I want to enjoy it! Fortunately, I was able to change that. I am happy that I went through this process. I was a little crazy, but in a good way. "
The more successful Federer becomes, the calmer and more controlled he appears on the pitch. Or the other way around. He passed the master's examination at Wimbledon in 2003 on the way to his first Grand Slam success when he stormed the title as if it were the most normal thing in the world. His transformation is one of the most remarkable in tennis: from the hothead, for which the parents were ashamed, to the perfect ambassador for this sport. Mother Lynette's admonishing words had a delay after all. And how right she was is shown when her son no longer lets his opponents look inside him. He puts on a poker face, at most reveals a hint of emotion after a point has been won. This is frustrating for his opponents, who would want nothing more than to be able to read from his face or his gestures what is going on in him. And that they manage to annoy him.
But Federer stays cool and always exudes a quiet confidence. Like an experienced pilot, he navigates calmly through the greatest turbulence in his matches. And because he keeps a clear head like a good flight captain, he almost always makes the right decisions even in critical moments. This is often the difference in a fast-paced sport like tennis, where you have to rely on your instincts and just a few balls decide whether you win or lose. It becomes a characteristic of Federer that the more important the point, the better he plays. You can rely on the ace through the middle at breakball for the opponent in his most successful times. And so victories in tight games that are only decided by a few points seem natural to him for years. "Roger doesn't hit himself," says Australian tennis analyst Craig O'Shannessy. “Many get upset and lose track of things, give up or panic and then push too hard. Roger doesn't. And that alone has won him many matches. "
As a teenager, a hot head, he discovered his zen, although he did without special relaxation methods. He does not do yoga or tai chi, he does not meditate, nor does he go to a Shiatsu therapist. Nevertheless, it can serve as a good example of how to live mindfully, how to accept the moment and not let anything distract you. Something that we almost all strive for in this hectic world that is turning faster and faster. A fine example of how well Federer succeeds in concentrating on the essentials is given in the 2003 ATP final, which will take place for the first time in Houston: Self-made millionaire James McIngvale, known as “Mattress Mack”, got rich through his furniture stores , has brought the tournament to his doorstep. But the conditions at the Westside Tennis Club are anything but ideal. Federer dares to criticize that the places are uneven and the training conditions are insufficient. Once he even has to train on a place without a network. When McIngvale, who is not used to someone confronting him, learns of the Swiss critic's criticism, he foams with anger. He immediately storms into the cloakroom and compresses it as he is preparing for his game against Andre Agassi. Confused for a moment, Federer quickly collects himself, in fact, he even takes the lecture as an additional incentive. He beats Agassi, whom Patriot McIngvale would have loved to see win, twice: first in the group matches, then in the final. And Matratzen-Mack has no choice but to congratulate Federer. The winner is always right, isn't he?
When Federer begins to lose more often, it is criticized that he is too calm, does not really resist the defeats. Commentators demand that he should clench his fist more often or "Come on!" call. Mats Wilander even says that he has the impression that Federer just wants to play and not necessarily want to win. The Swede, with his surprising analyzes always an asset, is completely wrong with this assessment for once. In the spring of 2009 the unbelievable happened: In Miami, Federer smashed his bat in the semi-final against Novak Djoković after a devious forehand! The audience whistles as he runs to the bank to get a new piece of work equipment. “Can a role model for young people behave like that?” Asks the Zurich tabloid Blick indignantly. "A very bad picture of Roger Federer," complains the distinguished Neue Zürcher Zeitung . It is his first material damage in public in five years. That incident, however, does not mark his change back from Paul to Saul - it simply shows how much it is still seething in Federer. And how remarkable it is that this so rarely comes to the surface.
The parallel to Björn Borg, whom he admires and who will be his captain in Team Europe at the Laver Cup from 2017, is interesting. Borg, who was nicknamed "Iceborg" because he never looked up on the court, had been a hothead at a young age. He cursed, threw clubs, cheated. Borg was so rude that he was banned from the Swedish Association for six months when he was twelve. He was also no longer allowed to train in his local tennis club in Södertälje - a formative experience that was a lesson to him. Then he stowed his emotions in a box, locked it and threw away the key. Borg hardly allowed even positive emotions. "When he came from the seat to the cloakroom, you could never tell whether he had won or lost," said his former rival Ilie Năstase. "He came in, took off his FILA outfit, folded it up neatly and quietly went to the shower."
While Borg suppressed all emotions, Federer channels his. After great victories and bitter defeats, they come to the surface, often in the form of tears. He made crying socially acceptable in men's tennis. Andy Murray said, after losing the final of the Australian Open 2010 to him, in his honest and moving speech on the pitch: “I can cry like Roger. Unfortunately I can't play like him. "
"Roger Federer" - Simon Graf's bestseller
Thesecond edition of thebook Roger Federer by Simon Graf has been published by the publishing house in a nutshell - expanded by five new chapters. Graf, sports editor at the Schweizer Tages-Anzeiger , is one of Federer's best experts. He depicts him in all his facets: as a quick-tempered teenager, tennis genius, son, husband and father of four children, as inspiration, strategist, top manager of his talent, eternally playful, as winner and loser, advertising icon, idol and benefactor. And as someone who, in spite of everything, managed the feat of remaining completely normal.
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