The 20-time Major champion Roger Federer has been a role model for many current young tennis stars and the upcoming heroes. Like all the other players, Federer has had some dark moments throughout the years in those toughest moments but he is usually calm and collected on the court, keeping the focus on tennis and the rival on the other side of the net.
Still, that wasn’t always the case, as it would be hard to recognize Roger for his behavior until the end of his teenage years. The Swiss couldn’t keep his temper down right from the very first competitive matches in juniors, throwing racquets, swearing and having something to say about every point he would lose!
Speaking about that in 2002, Roger said he needed years to start making improvements in that area, losing too much energy on fighting with himself and doing his best to change that before stepping on the ATP Tour. Remembering those days, Federer also mentioned how his parents felt embarrassed on some occasions while watching his matches, urging him to change the attitude or to go to tournaments without them.
“When I was very young, and I started playing at the age of 3, I was always swearing around the court, throwing racquets and everything. My parents felt embarrassed and they would tell me to stop behaving like that otherwise they wouldn’t come to the tournaments with me anymore.
I had to kind of settle down but it took me until I was maybe 19 when I finally started to make improvements in that area. In the past, I was complaining on every point I would lose and I don’t know how I got over that.
I thought I was losing too much energy by always getting upset with myself. Now I’m calm, getting excellent press at the French Open and Wimbledon last year for my behavior on the court. Now I almost have to watch out not to act too calm on the court.”
Roger Federer: “That’s why I’m not wearing Capri Model trousers”
In addition to being a great tennis champion, Roger Federer is always very focused on fashion and what he wears during tennis matches. In the summer of 2018, the Swiss Maestro decided, after 24 years, to end the sponsorship collaboration with Nike, a company with which he had associated his name since he was 13.
From that day Federer became the face of the Japanese Uniqlo agency, founded in Ube in 1949 and which, in the last two years has had great growth, with 2000 stores and a very recent one opened last year in Miami. In this step, Roger lost the rights to the RF brand, a line dedicated to him and legally remained with Nike.
After a battle of a year and a half Roger has come back to his logo which is now the only owner. During an interview, Federer also said an unusual background on his career: “Nike gave me Capri model trousers to wear and I tried them in the Basel tournament.
I remember that the other athletes looked at me perplexed… I justified myself by saying that it was only a test and that I would never play in it. I’m not the type and I can’t make this work for me, then Moya used them first and then Rafa Nadal and especially him they were fine!” In fact, I can never be able to imagine Roger Federer going down on the court with Capri Model trousers; he, who in every tournament loves to amaze his fans even with very original outfits, but at the same time always impeccably elegant.
