Page 50 - SHARP Summer 2024

ADVANTAGE SET
ROGER FEDERER TALKS HIS UPCOMING DOCUMENTARY, FEDERER: TWELVE FINAL DAYS, HIS EMOTIONAL RETIREMENT, AND HIS RIVALRY- TURNED-FRIENDSHIP WITH RAFAEL NADAL
By Adam Davidson
WHEN ROGER FEDERER ANNOUNCED THAT HE WAS GOING TO
retire, the news that one of the greatest of all time was preparing to hang up his racquet sent shockwaves across the sporting world. He played his final game of professional tennis in a doubles match with his long-time rival Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup in September 2022, as the curtain finally closed on an iconic career.
During his 24-year tenure atop the tennis world, Federer cemented his legacy with 103 singles titles (including 20 Grand Slams), an Olympic gold medal, and the title of World No. 1, which he held for a staggering 237 consecutive weeks. The emotional 12 final days of Federer’s professional career are the focus of a new Prime Video documentary that takes the audience behind the scenes of one of the most poignant moments in sporting history. Ahead of its release, SHARP spoke with Federer about life away from the spotlight, his greatest rivalries, and the challenges of documenting such an emotional farewell to the sport.
How does it feel to be letting people behind the scenes with this documentary that follows the emotional days before your retirement?
It’s not something I thought was going to happen. When we [planned] the farewell tour in London, I decided to bring Joe Sabia and a sound guy to come with me for the last hurrah. The idea was to have it for me, my friends, family, and kids. Even now, to share it, I can’t believe we are really doing this, but the footage was too good to be kept in-house.
Did you feel comfortable with the cameras being there because you didn’t intend the footage to be made public?
It was very organic and natural, and as you said, maybe I had in the back of my mind that it wasn’t going to be used, so I felt more relaxed. My agent told me, “Let’s just have these guys here and if you want to use the footage, use it.” The idea was to maybe use some for social media, a few snippets here and there as I embark on the final couple of weeks of my career.
The director came up to me and said, “There’s so much incredible footage, you can’t just hoard this for yourself.” A couple of months after my retirement, I saw a 60-minute raw docu- mentary of it. I even cried watching that because there were so many incredible moments and there was a lot I was going through.
When were you certain that you were going to retire?
They were celebrating 100 years of Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2022, and I wasn’t sure if I should come to that, because I was injured and couldn’t play Wimbledon, so I thought that maybe I shouldn’t be there. Last minute, I decided to go, and I said on court, “I hope I see you next year.” It was really heartfelt, and I meant that. In the following weeks, I felt that the progress of my knee was way slower than I thought, and I felt that this was it.
This was in August, and now the question was, “What does that mean?” Do I retire quickly or not? My parents would call me up and say, “How long are you going to hold this information? It’s killing us!” You have friends and parents asking, “How is Roger doing?” We knew everything but who could we tell? Because sooner or later this stuff gets out.
The idea started happening for doubles at the Laver Cup with Rafa [Nadal], which was an iconic and epic way to close a chapter.
What has life been like after retirement? It must be a difficult adjustment because you’ve been so used to a strict training regimen. Retirement has been like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I tried everything and more to come back, but I definitely got unlucky with my knee
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PHOTO BY RYAN PIERSE/ATP TOUR/ATP TOUR VIA GETTY IMAGES