Roger Federer and the sunlit perfection that remained for 24 years

Since Thursday evening, when Roger Federer announced his retirement , people from around the world are trying to craft the perfect goodbye to this most eloquent of tennis players. What did Federer mean to tennis? What did Federer mean to us?

It is easy to get lost in these weighty questions. And there are no straightforward answers. The one line that aptly defines the situation, was written by Stephen Fry for another genius of another era, PG Wodehouse. “You don’t analyse such sunlit perfection: you just bask in its warmth and splendour.”

For Federer’s game was like a slice of summer. Radiant and dazzling. It had, of course, taken him years of practice and hard work and sweat to get there. But you rarely saw any of that, especially not the sweat, when you watched him play. It was all easy grace and shots from heaven. Can we see that single-handed backhand rip down the line just one more time?

In all respects, Federer played the game like no one had before him . Not just the way he elevated tennis, but also made serial winning look bearable. He had just the right mix of haughtiness and humility. In the high noon of his career, a period between 2004 and 2007 which now seems a lifetime ago, Federer was untouchable. There were no sporting parallels to his powers. So, his game was compared to art, to religion. His fanatics belonged to the The Church of Federer.

But his genius was enriched because he shared it with people. He talked about it freely, and in five different languages. He cried when he won, cried when he lost. But in more than the 1500 professional matches he played, and there probably would have been some when he wasn’t physically feeling up to it, he never retired mid-match.

He made time for fans, engaged with them rather than sit with his trophies locked up in an ivory tower. He wasn’t just a tennis artist, he stepped up and became its spokesperson, it’s ambassador. He drew people in from all corners of the world.

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“Above all I must offer a special thank you to my unbelievable fans,” he said in his retirement note.

“You will never know how much strength and belief you have given me. The inspiring feeling of walking into full stadiums and arenas has been one of the huge thrills in my life. Without you, those successes would have felt lonely, rather than filled with joy and energy.”

Every single stadium that Federer walked into was effectively a home game for the tennis champion. Even those at the French Open, known to heckle even the best, there’s a special reverence for Federer. In an age of icon cynicism, that’s the ultimate vote of confidence.

The connections that Federer made with his peers, his seniors, the organisers, stakeholders, fans, is what made him seem larger than life. In 2011, Federer, a tennis player, was voted the second-most respected person in the world , after Nelson Mandela, ahead of the Pope.

“He was the epitome of a champion; class, grace, humility, beloved by everyone,” tennis legend Chris Evert wrote after Federer announced his retirement. “Thank you for doing more for tennis than any single individual,” wrote Canadian player Milos Raonic. “Thanks to you competitors and fans across the world get to experience and enjoy it all over the world. Congratulations on your achievements and the people you continue to impact in and away from tennis.”

When you look at the arc of his career, it started when Pete Sampras was still winning Grand Slams and lasted till Carlos Alcaraz, a man born two months before Federer won his first major at 2003 Wimbledon, joined the list of Grand Slam champions . Federer has lasted a few generations, won 20 Grand Slam titles, 103 tour titles and was No 1 for 310 weeks , a record broken by Novak Djokovic last year. But Federer held the top spot for a record 237 consecutive weeks — from 2 February 2004 until 18 August 2008. In a streak of sustained brilliance, he also reached 23 Grand Slam semi-finals in a row.

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Federer was also the founding member of the super generation of men’s tennis, called the Big 3. By elevating the sport, and constantly setting new benchmarks, Federer forced his closest competitors Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to do the same. In the later stages of his career, when he couldn’t glide to success, he gritted it out. Federer the poet became Federer the warrior. His 2017 Australian Open triumph , at the age of 35, over his biggest rival Rafael Nadal who seemingly ‘owned’ him mentally, in a five-set thriller is the stuff dreams are made of.

The fact that he is considered to belong to the same generation as Nadal and Djokovic, five and six years younger to him respectively, speaks volumes of his longevity. At 41, after two years of struggling with back and knee injury and undergoing multiple surgeries, it is still a surprise to see him leave. He’s given a lifetime of memories and still left the tennis world asking for more.

“The last 24 years on tour have been an incredible adventure,” Federer wrote. “While it sometimes feels like it went by in 24 hours, it has also been so deep and magical that it seems as if I’ve already lived a full lifetime. I have had the immense fortune to play in front of you in over 40 different countries. I have laughed and cried, felt joy and pain, and most of all I have felt incredibly alive.”

And he gave tennis a new life, new light. Like everything in his career before this, Federer was thoughtful and considerate in his retirement message. It took him four minutes and 34 seconds to say the thank yous and the good byes. “I will play more tennis in the future, of course, but just not in Grand Slams or on the tour,” he wrote. Some time, somewhere, he may yet again conjure the slice of summer.

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