When I roll up to the flagship of On, the Swiss shoe company, in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood, I find scores of schoolkids queued up outside. Many are holding tennis rackets and tennis balls with the dream of having them signed by the man many call the greatest to ever play the game: Roger Federer.
The newest inductee to the International Tennis Hall of Fame (alongside broadcaster Mary Carillo)—the festivities are this coming weekend in Newport, Rhode Island—he has been all over New York in the last few days, launching a limited-edition version of On’s The Roger shoe (with a grass-colored sockliner and some intriguing Easter eggs that we’ll let you discover on your own) and attracting another huge throng of fans yesterday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, merely to witness him warming up on the court with Lorenzo Musetti.
Inside the store, I find Roger chatting with his longtime agent and manager, Tony Godsick, and we sit down amid the chaos—plans were underway for Roger to hang out with the kids, answer questions, and to play some ping-pong with them—for an easygoing chat about his Hall of Fame induction, his own estimation of his legendary career, the state of tennis today, and his eagerly anticipated exhibition match (tonight out at Ashe Stadium) against Andy Roddick in singles, and against Roddick and Andre Agassi in doubles, with John McEnroe as Roger’s partner.
Vogue: Before we get into the Hall of Fame and talk about the exhibition, I wanted to ask you about your so-called retirement. Do you feel retired? Is your life different now? You seem pretty busy to me.
Roger Federer: I definitely feel retired, definitely feel very different. Maybe the first year or so was an unwinding year, just getting used to the new rhythm and learning how to fill up your day—how much travel are we doing, how is it with the kids now? But things were going from one to the other quite smoothly, and so overall that transition was rather easy.
Now, maybe for the last year and a half, two years, I feel like I’m really in control of my new life—and it’s been great. Last year we traveled a bunch with the children, too—we always try to stay together. At the same time, I work really hard and I like being active and busy.
Do you have new hobbies or directions your life has taken, or is it more about traveling with the family?
Family will always be a big deal, but especially so now—the boys are 12, the girls are 17, so we’re right in the middle of supporting them with school and their after-school activities, so it’s nice not to have a next match coming or a next practice coming, where mentally maybe you’re always a little bit distracted. I was extremely good at balancing that part, but it’s just nice not to have that.
I also have more time to think more creatively, with Tony [agent and manager Tony Godsick] and Mirka [Federer’s wife] and the team, of what we could do together with the brands I work with, or just in general with travels and having fun—where could I go play golf, and how is tennis looking, and what’s the landscape there? I’m also not saying yes to everything—I’m protecting myself and trying to be very selective.
We’re in the midst of a bit of Roger-mania. Tonight you’re playing an exhibition with Andy Roddick in singles and then partnering with John McEnroe out at the US Open site. How did all this come about?
