Emotional Roger Federer inducted into tennis Hall of Fame
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Roger Federer has 20 Grand Slam titles.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Roger Federer was emotionally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, calling it one of the greatest honours of his life.
- He reflected on his career from a 13-year-old ball boy to a 20-time Grand Slam champion and thanked supporters and family.
- Federer described tennis as central to his life and said he is still writing his love letter to the sport despite retirement.
AI generated
NEW YORK – A tearful Roger Federer was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Aug 29, describing his formal entrance into the sport’s pantheon as one of the “greatest honours of my life”.
The 45-year-old 20-time Grand Slam singles champion was frequently overcome with emotion as he addressed a crowd buzzing with tennis royalty at a ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island.
The Swiss legend, who retired from tennis in 2022, paid tribute to the opponents, officials, fans, family and friends who had shared his career during a lengthy address that unfolded as a love letter to the sport.
“This is one of the greatest honours of my life,” Federer said. “They call this the Hall of Fame, but fame was never the goal.
“My goal was to spend my life doing something I love... with people who love it as much as I do.”
In a light-hearted preamble, the eight-time Wimbledon champion totted up his career in some of his lesser-known statistical milestones.
“Not the obvious stats like the number of Majors or number of weeks at No. 1,” Federer said.
“I’m talking about the numbers that really paint a picture. Between 1998 and when I first went on the ATP Tour, and when I retired in 2022, I wore more than 5,000 headbands. That’s more than (Bjorn) Borg and (John) McEnroe combined.
“And if you think that’s impressive, I wore probably over 7,000 pairs of socks. That’s probably twice as many as most of my opponents, because I doubled them up.”
Federer also reflected on his journey from being a 13-year-old ball boy at an ATP tournament in Basel to the pinnacle of tennis.
“But really, there’s no way to measure what it means to be here. It’s hard to put it into words.
“I really want to thank every ballkid who ever stood through my matches or all our matches, for that matter, for hours on end. I see you. I thank you. I was you,” he added.
Roger Federer became emotional on stage after being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Federer had to wipe away tears as he namechecked his idol Stefan Edberg, other tennis stars, family and support staff who had inspired him throughout his career.
“I need tissues and sunglasses and everything to protect me right now,” he joked. “This is such a mess.
“It’s been an incredible journey. For me, the International Tennis Hall of Fame provides a great opportunity to look back, but also to look ahead.
“As you can tell, I’m still writing my love letter to tennis. My time as a player is done, but tennis will always stand at the intersection of everything I care most about: my family, our friendships, the past 40 years, the future we’re building. Tennis for me is responsible for it all.”
Meanwhile, at the US Open in New York, six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek said recent progress had encouraged her after what she described as the toughest season of her career as the Pole bids for her first Major title of the year.
The 25-year-old endured an unusually difficult first half of the campaign by her lofty standards.
She reached the Australian Open quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Elena Rybakina, fell in the fourth round at Roland Garros, where she had previously excelled, and exited Wimbledon in the third round as she failed to retain her title.
Swiatek, who has slipped to eighth in the world rankings, captured her first title of the season earlier in August with a commanding victory over Rybakina in the Canadian Open final, providing a timely confidence boost ahead of the final Grand Slam of the year.
After winning her maiden Major title at Roland Garros in 2020, Swiatek has lifted at least one Grand Slam trophy in every season since 2022 and will be eager to preserve that streak.
“For me, for sure, it wasn’t an easy season,” Swiatek said on Aug 29. “Probably the toughest one and the most challenging.
“Obviously, I had to change coaches before the clay-court season, which was a tricky situation. Then I started working with Francis (Francisco Roig), and just wanted to implement all the stuff that we did in practice.
“But, on the other hand, I didn’t have a lot of practice time. After Wimbledon, I managed to get some days off, reset a little bit, and we had a much longer training block.
“So it really helped me to just implement this stuff that I was talking about.”
Swiatek said recent results had left her encouraged by the progress she has made.
“The last two tournaments (Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open) were super positive,” she said.
“Even though I lost in Cincinnati, this match against Jess (Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals) was really high level.
“So I feel happy with my game and with the changes that I made. Just looking forward now.”
Swiatek opens her US Open campaign against China’s Wang Xiyu on Aug 31. AFP, REUTERS