MercedesCup: The tolerable lightness of being Roger

Roger Federer seems to have all the time in the world – but his time should be rather short. How does he manage to be so relaxed?

By Florian Goosmann from Stuttgart

The man broke pretty much every record that wasn’t nailed down. Most Grand Slam tournament victories (20), most Wimbledon titles (8), longest in world ranking one (309 weeks) and oldest number one (36 years and 9 months)… Many call the Maestro from Switzerland the “GOAT” – the “Greatest Of All Time”.

Roger Federer could be credited with another title: “Most relaxed person on earth”. It would of course be a wild tip to make comparisons with all 7.4 billion people on earth, but the “most relaxed tennis player on earth”… that could actually be Federer.

Federer is known for always seeing the glass as half-full, quickly ticking off defeats instead of pondering for days over missed opportunities. “Don’t cry over spilled milk,” Dale Carnegie would call it, the great master of “Don’t worry – live!” culture. Is Federer perhaps his tennis counterpart? In Indian Wells, he said in March, his daughters started a (successful) beverage street sale; probably someone had given Daddy Roger some lemons – and he made lemonade out of it.

Listening to his press conferences, he seems to be the most relaxed of all those involved. His first appearance in Stuttgart, the stutter start against Mischa Zverev? Federer focused on his own four breaks. “That’s something to build on.” The difficulty of remaining calm when he was trailing with a set and had break point against himself? “Sometimes it’s good to be hectic too.” The few points that ultimately decided the match in his favor? “It was a good thing I didn’t let my head down.” After the English- German press conference, which lasted about 20 minutes, Federer presumably gave similar answers to the same questions for his colleagues on Swiss television and radio. In all languages, of course.

Of course, the man has little reason to complain: a great job (who doesn’t want to be a successful tennis pro?), a healthy family (with stress-tested nannies), financial freedom (formulated carefully). The absurd thing is that many of us have that at least in part – and still like to resort to advisors for positive thinking and relaxation techniques. Or would not get out of bed at all without relieving neck massages.

Did Federer, whose popularity increases every year (at some point you will call it a cult status), also have to train himself to relax, as crazy as it sounds? Or is “to be relaxed”, this feather-light manner anchored in his name, his nature? “I’m such a guy,” the Swiss told in Friday after his (relaxed) victory over Guido Pella. “I may look a little more focused on the court. So am I, but I’m very relaxed next to the court, at practice, at lunch. Or with the players. The contact is very relaxed.”

Federer knows that this characteristic is a reason for many successes. “That’s one of my greatest strengths: to relax immediately after the match, to recover, not to take everything too seriously. Also to have a little joy at the press conferences, at other appointments, at meetings with people. Or even signing autographs and taking photos. I also enjoy that to a certain extent,” Federer revealed and laughed aloud (and relaxed).

Alexander Zverev last talked about Federer being a great jabber-jabber. Since this year’s Laver Cup, “Team Europe” has maintained a WhatsApp group, and Federer, the oldest, is of course the one who gets the most nonsense. “It’s always fun on the team. We’re doing a lot of bullshit there. That’s one of them. But I was always the same,” says Federer.

However, there is one limitation to its popularity. “I just have to be careful when I can do something because I know there are always people watching.”