Roger Federer is enjoying life after retiring from professional tennis two years ago when he played his last match alongside Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup. The former Swiss champion received a truly emotional tribute at the O2 Arena in London and was celebrated by his biggest rivals, who recognised his greatness and fundamental contribution to the development of tennis.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion has been a global icon and made an important contribution even off the tennis court, becoming the most beloved player of all times. The Swiss Maestro has lost most of his records, which were stolen by his eternal rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
The former world number 1 would have liked to be more competitive in his later years, but a serious knee injury prevented him from playing as well as he could. The Swiss legend has undergone several surgeries to try to get back competitive at high levels, but he had to give up and listen to his body’s demands. Federer feels good without professional tennis and has undertaken several projects in recent years. King Roger has remained connected to the sport that made him famous around the world and will be at the Laver Cup in Berlin next month.
Federer has many interests
Roger Federer has many interests and has been involved in several projects since he stopped playing tennis at a professional level. A few days ago, the news came that the former number one in the world has sold his important property in Herrliberg. According to ‘NZZ’, the land of about 5800 square meters has been sold to the Zurich-based Amini Group. Rumours claim that the former Swiss champion would have demanded around 35 million francs for that property, but the deal ended at 30 million francs.
During a recent interview with Tennis Channel, Federer opened up on the new racket launched by Wilson: “Having spent my whole career playing with Wilson rackets, I’m excited about the new RF Collection that we’ve created together. I’m honoured that Wilson is continuing my legacy by further innovating the game I love, and I hope the collection inspires the stars of today as much as I was inspired the first time that I picked up a Wilson racket.
Having the RF logo on the racket shows you that this is very serious for me. It’s a big honour for me to have an RF franchise at Wilson. I’ve been with them for so, so long, ever since I played my first tournament at eight years old it was a Wilson racket and I’ve never played another tournament with another, with another brand. So for me to carry on the journey together with Wilson, now with my own initials and my brand is incredible.”
The Swiss Maestro on Mirka
The 20-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1 made modern sport history and brought many young players closer to tennis. The King has been a model for almost all players and its impact has transcended tennis. In the same interview, the Swiss Maestro also spoke about his wife Mirka: “I’ve never felt lonely on the tour. We’ve hardly had any days apart in the last six years. She helped me for so long—she was with me when I hadn’t won a title yet—but now I want her to retreat a bit and just enjoy it more.
Super tough moments, she was in crutches for a long time. Over a month I think… She was doing rehab, always pain and then I told her, ‘Why don’t you just retire, I mean this is not the idea of playing tennis with pain all the time, and then we can be on tour together?’, and I was on the ascend of… starting to win Wimbledon, top 10, World No. 1. And she was like ‘Yeah you’re right, I’m done, it’s good!'”
He continued: “I think she loved the tour through my career, the travels, and the logistics behind… being my rock through thick and thin. She’s been incredible throughout, the first half thankfully we had with no children and thankfully we had with children the second half.”
Federer has been the protagonist of a memorable rivalry with Spaniard Nadal and Serbian Djokovic. The Big 3 took tennis to a new level and were a reference for the following generation of players. Federer retired in 2022, while Nadal is reflecting on his future after the difficulties of recent months. Djokovic is still competitive and has just won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but he hasn’t even won a Grand Slam title this year.