I’ve also read his biography: “The Roger Federer Story” which is a really great primer on his career (pre 2008 Wimbledon) if you’re interested.

Tennis is THE game of sportsmanship I think. It’s almost forced upon them.

Oh yes, I am very familiar with that article! Everyone should read it – thanks for posting the link

I call it the Sacred Text of the Fedophiles: http://tinyurl.com/pqh5u5

I bought the book last Tuesday, started reading it, and finished it Wednesday morning! lol, it was amazing, and i loved all the extra insight jon wertheim gave to what happened in the locker room. Plus, all the Fed chapters and stories were great! AMAZING BOOK that i simply could not put down!

who knew The Mighty Fed likes to eat (not exactly what i would call “healthy” pre-match food..especially considering it was Wimby) I dont mean the Pasta Primavara, but the 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi and the kit kats? LOL that was great..so was the part about Fed being so calm he “seemed stoned”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html?_r=2&pagewanted=5

I got a question on what exactly Boris Becker did/said to Pete Sampras way back in 2002, since Becker wasn’t playing tennis at the time. I asked Jon, and here’s what he was referencing:

Boris Becker watched the way Pete Sampras sat and stared at his racket strings after Wednesday’s shocking second-round loss to George Bastl. Becker, writing in a column in Saturday’s Times here, said that he was so unnerved he had to stop in the middle of an interview.

“To me, his Wimbledon life stopped at that moment,” Becker wrote. ” ‘That’s it,’ I said, ‘He will not come back. That is the end of Pete.’

“We had a seven-time champion who had spent much of a second-round match reading a letter of inspiration from his wife–out in the open, on a show court at Wimbledon, not at the dinner table in the candlelight. I could not believe the whole thing. He had sunk into himself at the end of the match. Maybe he was shedding a tear, not in public but inside.”

Sampras, who has not won a tournament since Wimbledon 2000, said immediately after the match he would return to Wimbledon.

“It was a natural reaction,” Becker said. “He had not time to consider all the consequences, it had been so unexpected.”

The book is great – definitely worth the read. I confess that I’m stuck on the last chapter, though, which covers the last set! I’m kind of skimming it so as not to have to relieve the agony again

The uber Uncle Toni thing is interesting — it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

But, seriously great interview! I’ll check out the library for the book.

Pre-Roland Garros: “But, you know, the plots change quickly in tennis.”
Eerie.

Great interview, I liked how Wertheim called Federer a “realist” too. I appreciate Federer’s genuine reaction to the match (and also after the Aus Open). If the loss hurts, he lets it be known, no brave smiles or pseudo optimism for him. It’s what makes him human and goatly at the same time.

You’ll love the book!