Life after tennis appears to be going well for Roger Federer and now he has opened up on how his life has changed over the last year.
The Swiss maestro – who many believe is the greatest tennis player of all-time after a glorious career – has only made occasional media appearances since he ended his career at the Laver Cup last September.
Yet he has been busy in recent weeks, making an appearance in the Royal Box at Wimbledon last month and launching a new UNIQLO clothing collection with a series of media hits in New York this week.
In an interview with the New York Times, Federer opened up on a variety of issues, as he admitted he didn’t know how he would react to the tennis afterlife.
“Life without the game, and life without the fans, and life without the schedule that has dominated my life for 25 years has definitely been something I didn’t know how I would take,” he said.
“For the longest time I tried to come back and give it one more shot and leave the game healthy, but it was not doable.
“But the good/bad thing about Covid, and with my knee surgery, is that everything started to slow down in the past three years, so it wasn’t like I came from playing 100 matches and then boom, it’s over.
“At the end, I was relieved, I think, and happy to retire. It ended in the most perfect way at the Laver Cup.
“I was surrounded by my biggest rivals, and my family was there and my friends. For me, it felt like, “OK, I’m good now. I don’t need to chase that itch anymore.”
Federer also spoke about his first appearance in Wimbledon’s Royal Box, as he sat next to Catherine, Princess of Wales, on the first Tuesday of this year’s Championships.
“Last year I walked out on Centre Court for the 100-year anniversary celebration,” he reflected.”It was beautiful but painful. I was injured. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again, so it was a very emotional moment.
“This year was totally different. My dad whispered to me, ‘Don’t you wish you were playing on court instead of sitting and watching?’ and I was like; ‘No. I feel content watching and enjoying the game’.
“It was so fun sitting next to Princess Catherine. I know her quite well. She is an avid tennis fan, and she plays herself.
“Sometimes we have to be careful we don’t speak too much. You can talk, and then it’s super-quiet, and then you have to applaud.”
Federer also spoke about his appearance on stage with supergroup Coldplay, as he admitted he took some convincing to go out of his comfort zone.
“I met the band when I saw them in Montreal,” he added. “I don’t know what year it was — maybe 2016? We’ve been in touch a bit.
“I’ve seen Chris Martin in the Hamptons several times. So when they came to Zurich, I reached out and said, ‘I’m so excited, I would love to come’.
“Chris wrote me back and asked if I wanted to come onstage.
“I asked my daughter at dinner, and she looked at me and said: ‘You have to do this. You only live once’. So I told Chris: ‘I’m in in!
“I didn’t even know what I had signed up for.”
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