Tennis: The Sports Oscars: A Case for Two – for Roger Federer

Roger Federer really wins the sports Oscar,”A dream that doesn’t stop” – records for the next award will follow in 2018.

Roger Federer is very familiar with twins. He is the proud father of twin daughters, Charlene and Myla, eight years old. And also a proud father of twin sons, Leo and Lenny, three years old.

On Monday evening, when the grand gala of the sport Oscars in the magnificent “Salle des Etoiles” in Monte Carlo was over, the “Laureus World Sports Awards”, it was again a case for two. Federer had managed to get a couple of twins in there. The man, who pulverizes the records and top performances in tennis at will, finally posed with two awards for the photographers and camera crews – first Boris Becker had put the trophy for the comeback of the year 2017 in his hands.

And later, at the climax and conclusion of the evening show in the Principality, it was the legendary Martina Navratilova, who had handed over the Laureus to the Maestro as last season’s world athlete,”You enthuse millions with your game,” said Navratilova,”you are a true champion. Royals among themselves, somehow.

Federer wouldn’t have been Federer if he hadn’t thought of a buddy and rival who is inseparably connected with his own career. On the stage he thanked Rafael Nadal for the years together at the top of the world:”Without him I wouldn’t be who I am now. Nadal was also on the list of nominees for the World Sportsman Oscar, just like Lewis Hamilton, Mo Farah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Chris Froome, but Federer’s triumphs and his irresistible campaign to return home after a six-month injury break were once again unavoidable.

Also at the Laureus Awards, the sympathetic grasping appetite is now unique. Up to now, Usain Bolt and Federer have won four World Sportsmen’s Choices for one season, and Federer now has the fifth Oscar in his pocket. This award means a lot to me because it comes from many former superstars of sport,”says Federer,” at the moment it’s like a dream for me. A dream that never stops.”

In fact, in the first two months of this season, Federer has already set an exclamation point, which qualifies him for the next Oscar. In Melbourne in January, he defended his Australian Open title, which he had won in 2017, and scored a round-number 20 at the all-decisive Grand Slam Festival in Melbourne. And just a week and a half ago, Rotterdam was one of the biggest, if not the greatest career achievement of the tennis-aesthette, the last leap to first place in the world rankings as the oldest player in history, at 36 years and 195 days.

Everyone who knows how much work goes into this achievement,”says Federer,”can imagine how deeply my joy is about it:”The fact that he managed to make the coup in Rotterdam, the summit storm, was also the luck of the Laureus people: because with it Federer’s very personal presence in Monte Carlo was certain – and no further number one hunted down at the Dubai Duty Free Championships this week”.

Federer seems to be ageless these days, young and fresh as well as his aggressive, dynamically remodeled play. One gets the impression that things can go on and on for the Swiss superstar, this sports hero from all over the world. But Federer is not the illusionist, he is not a dreamer.

He knows he’s on the home stretch of his tennis career. There is no master plan yet, as I’m going to stop,”says Federer,” but I’ll notice when it’s time to stop.”At the moment, according to Federer,” I’m still working in such a way that it’s going to go on without any restrictions “.

And after that? Federer is not afraid of time without professional tennis. On the contrary,”I will enjoy that too,”he says,”and then there are others who will and should make demands. My wife, my children. They then set the pace,” he himself can imagine playing show fights here and there, organizing events. Only with the constant travelling around, for example as a trainer, will it be “definitely over”:”I’ve lived out of my suitcase long enough.”