Roger Federer has rejected the notion that he plays tennis “easy”, insisting that his success is mainly down to “grit” and hard work.
Federer, one of the sport’s most accomplished athletes, attempted to set the record straight during his commencement speech at Dartmouth College in the US.
The Swiss pastor said he traded in the shorts he had worn “almost every day for the past 35 years” for a robe that “made it difficult to move around” when he received his doctorate in humanities from a university in New Hampshire.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who announced his retirement from professional playing in 2022, spoke about how “retirement” is a “terrible” word.
He said instead he’s “graduated from tennis” and, like the people he was talking to, has “finished one big thing” and is “moving on to the next.”
The 42-year-old then revealed three “tennis lessons” he has “relied on during this transition period”.
Federer won Wimbledon eight times and was renowned for his stylish and elegant play.
“People say I play effortlessly. Most of the time, they mean it as a compliment,” he said at Sunday’s ceremony. “But it annoys me when they say, ‘He barely breaks a sweat,’ or ‘Is he really trying?'”
“The truth is, I had to work really hard to make it look easy.
“I didn’t get to where I am because of pure talent, I got there because I worked harder than my opponents.”
“In most cases, it doesn’t matter if you have talent, it’s whether you have grit.”
“I want to become an expert at overcoming difficult moments.”
Federer explained that the second lesson he learned was that it was “just one point” and that “tennis is brutal” and it’s possible, as he had done, to “practice harder than you thought you could and still lose.”
“Perfection is impossible in tennis,” he said, referring to his famous five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. He has won 80 percent of his 1,526 singles matches.
“When you lose, on average, one point for every two points, you learn not to worry about every shot,” Federer said.
“Getting points is the most important thing in the world.
“But if it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is really important, because it enables you to hit the next point, and the next point after that, with enthusiasm, clarity and focus.”
“I want to be the master of overcoming difficult moments. To me, that’s the mark of a champion.”
Speaking about the third lesson – that “life is bigger than the court”, Federer said he knew from the beginning of his career that “tennis would show me the world, but tennis would never be the world”.
He added: “My message to everyone is that taking that life-changing step of graduating and leaving the world you know to discover a new one is an incredible, profound, wonderful and inspiring thing.”
