{"id":294434,"date":"2025-11-20T01:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294434\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T01:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T01:18:08","slug":"probably-that-it-was-easier-than-i-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294434\/","title":{"rendered":"Probably that it was easier than I thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer<\/a> has been announced that he will be joining many stars of the game into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It is a prestigious achievement in the sport only offered to the best of the best. 20-Grand Slam trophies, Six ATP Finals triumphs and 103 Tour-level titles equal an immense career. He told Tages-Anzeiger<\/a> about his journey into the Hall of Fame, life after tennis while touching on the ‘Big Three’ rivalry.Most surprising thing to get into Hall of Fame<\/p>\n

“Probably that it was easier than I thought,” Federer stated. He looked back at his journey to the top. “I would never have believed that I\u2019d make it into the Tennis Hall of Fame or win Wimbledon, and so on. I simply hoped that I\u2019d make it onto the professional tour. I hoped it wouldn\u2019t turn out to be a mistake when I left school at 16. But then everything went a bit easier and faster than I\u2019d thought. Although, of course, I also had my struggles and setbacks.”<\/p>\n

While it was ‘easier than he thought,’ there were still many low points in his career. Despite how tough it could get, Federer would not change it for the world. “No, nothing at all. I\u2019d want to experience it all again, with all the highs and lows. All these experiences made me the person I am,” Federer acknowledged. “I never tried to pretend to be someone else. Except on the court, of course, where I put on a poker face to protect myself from my opponent. But otherwise I always tried to stay authentic. Whether in success or failure. It was a wonderful journey. Sometimes it was tough, often it was emotional. I experienced the full range of emotions.”<\/p>\n

Life after tennis from a sporting perspective<\/p>\n

It was not tennis that he pursued after retirement, but golf as he switched up the scenery. “After retirement I did a lot of rehab. So it wasn\u2019t as if I\u2019d been doing a lot of sports and then suddenly stopped completely,” he said. “I continued training. But I stopped playing tennis to protect my knee. I did Pilates and tried golf. Surprisingly, I had no pain there. So I played more golf and tried to improve. What I\u2019m learning in golf now can benefit me later. It\u2019s like riding a bike or swimming\u2014you don\u2019t forget it. But now I\u2019m back in the gym more.”<\/p>\n

With his injuries becoming more comfortable, he is able to engage in the sport he once was the master of once more. “Yes, exactly. My knee feels better. I\u2019m playing much more tennis again now. In the summer I played occasionally with Ivo Heuberger (a former Swiss pro player). Because my children are playing more often and better now, I join them from time to time, too.” He noted his main ambition: to get back onto the court. “My goal is still to be able to play a few exhibitions again. Maybe something will happen in 2026. I\u2019m now doing a mini build-up until the end of the year,” Federer said.<\/p>\n

Focusing on his children<\/p>\n

When asked whether his intentions were to step back into tennis as a mentor\/coach\/commentator, the 44-year-old brushed these away with a more cherished focus. “Not at the moment. I\u2019m concentrating on our children. It\u2019s an interesting, important time now before everyone leaves home. We like being together as a family, and there\u2019s so much to do. Juggling everything with four children is demanding. No matter who asked now, I\u2019d decline. I don\u2019t have time. I think everyone knows that. That\u2019s why nobody asks,” he laughed. “But never say never. Stefan Edberg hadn\u2019t thought he\u2019d spend two years on tour with me either. But I\u2019m open to mentoring. If someone has a question, I\u2019m happy to give advice. Or if I\u2019m in Dubai at the end of the year, a player is welcome to drop by. I\u2019m open, but I can\u2019t be everywhere.”<\/p>\n

Which match he wanted to redo<\/p>\n

“The 2009 US Open final against Juan Mart\u00edn del Potro,” Federer picked out. “I should have won that one. Back then I had back pain in the warm-up and then missed so many chances. That was one of the matches I shouldn\u2019t have lost. It also broke my streak at the US Open.”<\/p>\n

He had won five in a row at Flushing Meadows and was heading for a phenomenal sixth before the Argentine snuck ahead for his only Grand Slam title. Five seemed like the magic number for Federer, who a year earlier saw his Wimbledon win streak come unstuck. “My streak also ended at Wimbledon 2008. Every time a streak was on the line, the whole thing got even bigger. But at Wimbledon it somehow had to be that way. Rafa had deserved it so much. That\u2019s why I thought afterwards: That\u2019s okay. But against del Potro I should have won,” Federer said ruefully.<\/p>\n

Playing with Nadal and having a drink with Djokovic<\/p>\n

He was asked about the potential of playing exhibitions with his old foe Nadal. This was something he would be down for. “It would be nice if it worked out. If we now played exhibitions after our careers, we\u2019d have more time and wouldn\u2019t have to immediately rush to the next thing. I could imagine combining the whole thing with a good cause, raising money for my foundation and inspiring kids. At the moment nothing concrete is planned. But I see a few cool things that could come from it.”<\/p>\n

Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic were members of the ‘Big Three.’ In their day they were unstoppable, dominating the landscape of tennis for a decade. As with all rivalries, it has come to an end with the Serbian the only one still competing at the age of 38-years-old.<\/p>\n

While they may have been enemies on court, Federer would be open to the idea of sitting down and chatting with them one day over a drink. “Sure. Rivalries like that create a huge bond. I see it very differently today than before, with much more distance,” Federer explained. “Novak doesn\u2019t know what that\u2019s like yet. Rafa is slowly getting there. When you\u2019re still playing, you can\u2019t think about it the way I do today. The more time passes, the less you identify yourself as an individual player and the more you see the big picture. What\u2019s funny is: Someone might have taken something totally personally\u2014and you can\u2019t even remember it anymore. I\u2019m definitely up for sitting down together and talking about the good old days.”<\/p>\n

The legacy he wants to leave behind<\/p>\n

His legacy on the court has been shown by his induction into the Hall of Fame. Federer stated that he was delighted to be a part of a generation which boosted the sport’s growth around the world and hope to continues that long into the future.<\/p>\n

“Many have told me I helped lead the sport into a new era\u2014that means a lot to me. I hope I was able to help strengthen tennis globally: that more spectators come, tournaments grow, and players earn more. And that tennis stars are also recognised beyond the sport. When you talk about the most famous female athletes in the world today, you often mean tennis players\u2014a great achievement for our sport, also thanks to pioneers like Billie Jean King. Of course there are difficult political issues in tennis. But overall I hope I\u2019ve contributed to ensuring that the sport I love continues to flourish,” he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roger Federer has been announced that he will be joining many stars of the game into the International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[6733,49,48,2189,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-294434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-roger-federer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}