Roger Federer
was back in South Africa for the first time in eight years and it was
not long before he was surrounded by a swarm of three-year-old toddlers
tugging at his shirt and hankering to play a game of tennis.
Unlike many of the fans the 17-times grand slam
champion usually encounters, these children hold a special place in the
Swiss champion's heart as his charitable foundation is helping to
educate them.
Federer showed the children how to play tennis, joined
them in a game of hopscotch and read out stories to a captive audience
before sitting down with Reuters to chat about the pressures faced by
top athletes, being in his South African mother's homeland, and what he
hopes to achieve during the 10th anniversary of the Roger Federer Foundation.
REUTERS: Your trip here has coincided with the bail
hearing of paralympian Oscar Pistorius. Pistorius's story has put a
particular spotlight on sporting heroes. Do you think there's a lot of
pressure put on professional athletes?
FEDERER: Everybody handles it (pressure and stress)
differently. My success came gradually, which was helpful, even though I
was always considered a great talent, someone who could become world
number one. So it wasn't a huge surprise that I made it to world number
one and won Wimbledon, but for me it was.
To handle that stardom, the red carpets, the photo
shoots, people all of a sudden recognizing you and following you in
everyday life, it's a bit weird. It's strange and it can have funny
effects on you in terms of do you like it or don't you like it. Some
people run away from it, some people embrace it, I found a good middle
ground.
It's tricky, especially (because) people love fairytale
stories; take you down, put you back up, put you down. And obviously
the more famous you become, the more great everything seems when things
goes well, and the worse they seem when things don't go so well.
I realized that when I was world number one, I would
play an average match and people would say ‘you played so well, it's
unbelievable'. And when I would play incredibly they would say ‘oh my
god, we've never seen this tennis before in my life'. So it's always an
exaggeration, the whole thing, and that's what we live in,
unfortunately.
REUTERS: How important is it to take time out?
FEDERER: For me vacation and family time is as
important as training. So I try to take to take at least 10 days if not
two weeks of holiday. After the Australian Open in January I took two
weeks of vacation, all I did was spend time with my family.
I couldn't handle this daily stress of people
recognizing me, signing autographs, doing press, playing matches, the
pressure, people always in my face.
I need to get away from it all. So that when I do come
back to the game, I'm hungry, and I'm in the mood to sign autographs,
I'm in the mood to do interviews. Not that it becomes a drain and it
becomes a burden, because when it's that, the fun goes away then you
stop, it's just as simple as that.
REUTERS: It's been a decade since you set up the Roger
Federer Foundation which funds pre-school and primary education in
Africa and Switzerland. What are you doing to mark the anniversary?
FEDERER: We were thinking of doing different things.
Most important was that I definitely do the trip this year, that has
been my number one priority. I went to Ethiopia a few years ago but I
really wanted to come back to South Africa.
My heart is in South Africa, through my mum. My mum
being from here, me spending a lot of time here as well, I feel most
connected to this part of the world.
Obviously I would like to see other ones projects in
the five other African countries as well, but coming here, being able
to do something in South Africa and also visiting my family was
important.
The 10 years are important to us. I still feel we're in
the beginning of everything. Ten years sounds like a long time but it's
changed a lot in terms of the kids we're able to reach and the money
we're able to put out there to help.
In this regard I was thinking of doing another 'Match
for Africa' again which I did two or three years ago with Rafael Nadal
when I was able to raise up to $3 million. I don't know if this year
will be the year to do it but I hope to.
REUTERS: Is it important for people in your kind of position to 'give back'?
FEDERER: Sometimes it's not always about the money. If
people were willing to give time, to talk, to inspire, to help; because
at the end of the day it comes down to the people who help the kids get
smarter and get better at the end of the day.
Of course you need money to be able to do that
sometimes, not everywhere in the world, but here particularly you do,
its clear, its visible.
REUTERS: Is it important to do it?
FEDERER: I think you have to do what you feel is right
to do. I don't think there's a certain obligation, but it would be a
missed opportunity if you didn't because, let's not forget how
incredibly lucky... I can only speak for myself; how incredibly lucky I
feel that I made my hobby my job and my dream at the end of the day.
Sometimes with little effort I can raise so much
awareness or raise so much money in one event, that other people would
take a long long time to raise - I feel I would be selfish if I were to
not share that with other people.
REUTERS: Your twin daughters are almost four years old now. Does having a family make you better or slow you down?
FEDERER: I thought it would maybe slow me down a bit
just because everybody says so. I'm happy that again I was able to prove
that its possible to have a family and play well. Not only do I have a
family but I have twin girls, so it was super intense in the first
years, it's still very intense now. But I made it work. I have an
incredible wife who is so supportive and is willing to travel.
At (the) Rotterdam (tournament last week) I was by
myself, and I didn't feel the same. Maybe that's one of the reasons I
didn't play well, who knows? I miss them much.
I'm happy that I'm able to combine both at the same
time. Nine, 10 years ago I never thought of me being a dad, playing
tennis, winning the big titles.
In the dream or vision, you always see yourself with
the trophy, but you never see yourself with the trophy looking at your
kids like what happened at Wimbledon last year. I'm happy I had the
opportunity to live through that, those memories will be with me for a
lifetime.
NB: The Roger Federer Foundation supports 40
pre-schools in Limpopo province and spends over $3 million a year on
educational projects in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Malawi, Ethiopia and Federer's home country Switzerland.
Over 50,000 children benefited from the foundation's
efforts in 2012 to improve quality education in pre-schools and primary
schools.
Date: 22nd February 2013, Source: Reuters
