What is it like to train with Roger Federer? Pretty exciting, so at least tennis no-name Elliott Orkin can describe it. Bad only if you can hardly remember the training session with the superstar…
Only a few players on the tour get the chance to play once against the living tennis legend Roger Federer. Of course, the chance for a player in the Top 100 is of course greater than for a player who is at the bottom of the rankings.
Actually, it’s always the same duels that cause a stir on the tour. In the smaller tournaments with a narrow starting field, only local heroes and wild card holders can show the luck of having won a first-round duel with the “big Roger”. At the Grand Slams, with a large starting field, the chance is already greater. Or just a training unit that is not given to every player.
One of the few and lucky players on the tour is the American Elliott Orkin, who was recently allowed to train with Federer for two hours. Unfortunately, the world rankings-1132. can only vaguely remember the “hit” with the “Maestro”.
“Luckily I had some friends with me who made videos and pictures of the training. I had a perceived blackout over the entire two hours,” said the 24-year-old at tennistakes.com.
The excitement of the mostly still unknown tennis nobody was naturally great: “I can say with certainty that it was a mix of a nerve thriller and great anticipation of a long-awaited but never daring event.
The US-American did not have much time to prepare. Only 30 minutes before the start of the training Orkin had heard about the upcoming rally with Federer. The mixture of Federer fan and training partner was rewarded with a great souvenir. “Federer took another picture after practice. It was the best tennis experience I ever had. I wish I had talked to him more, but I didn’t want to be too pushy,” Orkin continued.
Nevertheless, a training session that the 24-year-old will never forget: “Just sharing the pitch with him was an honour – and I will never forget those moments!