Doctor Roger Federer Will See You Now [VIDEO]

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Speaker 3 do you want to do you you want to warm up first? What do you do normally?

Speaker 4 Voice. I do the voice stuff.

Speaker 3 Yeah, you normally do like a little... No, I mean, I'm trying to put you in the tennis mode.

Speaker 4 No, no, totally good.

Speaker 3 Can I tell you, that's probably my favorite thing about tennis is that like you warm each other up.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 That is weird. It's really weird.
It is super strange.

Speaker 3 There's no other sport I can think of where...

Speaker 3 The opposing athletes help each other get into this game.

Speaker 4 Hey, can I give you a good rhythm so you can beat me after?

Speaker 3 Yeah,

Speaker 3 I've just never, I'm like, you won't see boxers doing like the bag speech. Yeah, like just like doing a little punching and like before the before you go knock each other out.

Speaker 3 This is What Now

Speaker 3 with Trevor Noah.

Speaker 3 Well, welcome everybody. to another episode of What Now, the podcast where we have interesting conversations with the interesting people who make us think or feel.

Speaker 3 Today is, I mean, this is always one of my favorite things to do, is sit down with somebody I consider a friend, somebody who I've got fond memories with, funny stories, whatever it may be, and really just chat about how they see the world, what they're doing in it.

Speaker 3 And that person today is the one and only Roger Federer. You probably know him if you've lived on Earth.
But if you don't, he's widely regarded as the greatest tennis player that has ever done it.

Speaker 3 He also gives that accolade to many of his peers who are also some of the greatest to ever do it. But today we're talking about everything in between.

Speaker 3 A documentary entitled Federer, 12 Final Days, which is exactly what it sounds like. The 12 final days of Roger Federer's professional playing career.

Speaker 3 And yeah, man, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast, friend.

Speaker 4 For sure. Good to see you, Trevor.
Absolutely. Same.
I'm happy to see you again. You know, my tennis partner, man, from Cape Town, we did it together.

Speaker 3 I mean, your tennis rival.

Speaker 4 I mean, yeah, but we were in it together.

Speaker 3 Yeah, we were in it together. Yeah, but you still beat me.

Speaker 4 That's amazing that you actually did that. That was crazy.
52,000 people. I mean, you just started to play tennis barely, and here you are walking out in Cape Town to the city.
That was wild.

Speaker 3 Yeah, my first and last public tennis match was against Roger Federer. You retired on top of Dell as my, right? Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 4 I mean, Rafa was your partner.

Speaker 3 Quit the game on top. Do I now have to say doctor? How does this work?

Speaker 4 It's up to you. But if you have any issues ever or any problems,

Speaker 4 you come to see me. I mean, doctor of many things.
But yeah, the doctor thing comes from,

Speaker 4 you're probably referring to my commencement. Yeah, man.

Speaker 3 Congratulations.

Speaker 4 Thank you. That was fun in Dartmouth.
And you get an honorary doctorate. So here I am sitting as a doctor.
You know, I'm, yeah, a former tennis player. That's what I am.

Speaker 3 I can't think of many people who would be a better doctor than you. You're one of the most precise human beings I know.
You're one of the most like,

Speaker 3 you have everything that I think a good doctor would would have, right? And I mean like a doctor dog, like medical doctor, like you have great bedside manner.

Speaker 3 Everyone that meets you likes you, and they probably give you more information than they should. They start just sharing their secrets with you.

Speaker 3 Do you know what I mean? You've got the precision, you've got like the memory, the touch, the everything.

Speaker 3 It also seemed like emotional for you, you know, and I know a little bit of your story because you were, you know, thrust into the, you know,

Speaker 3 tennis profession like so early on, high school wasn't the thing for you. No.
College wasn't a thing for you.

Speaker 3 Was it was it like a little emotional experiencing a part of life that you maybe wouldn't have otherwise?

Speaker 4 And very strange because, like you said, the academic world and that part of life is so far away from it, right? I knew that in ten, I mean, sorry, in Switzerland, it's super important.

Speaker 4 Academics come first, and everything else is a hobby, you know, tennis, especially sports in general, anyways.

Speaker 4 So, for you to pursue tennis or a sport in our country is like, what do you, I mean, you're obviously not going to be good at it.

Speaker 4 So make sure your grades are good, you know, because this is obviously not going to work out. Oh, wow.

Speaker 4 And so for us to dive into that and believing and dreaming of, you know, the big time is not something that is very common.

Speaker 4 Maybe now more so since, you know, I made it and we have more athletes making it, you know, and it's a thing and you can see how much emotions actually an athlete can bring.

Speaker 4 It can be more seen as a career, you know. But

Speaker 4 then, yeah, you, I mean, I remember I tried hard, you know, when I stopped school at 16 and chased, you know, my tennis dream. I remember I did French, English, and German

Speaker 4 online classes for those because I said, oh, I got to do something after 16, I can't just stop it all. Then, after, you know, a couple of weeks, I asked my dad and my mom, like, it's so hard.

Speaker 4 I don't have the discipline to sit down and do English and all that stuff and German and French. They say, okay, we drop French.
You know, I'll just do German and English.

Speaker 4 I'm better at that than the French part. They're like, okay, fine.
So, like, two weeks later, like, I can't do it. Just give me a chance just to do only tennis.

Speaker 4 And if tennis really doesn't work out, I'll go straight back to school.

Speaker 3 But please let me go. Like, are you whittling down the language? I can't do French.

Speaker 3 I can't do

Speaker 3 language. I just want to hit the ball.

Speaker 4 And then here I am, you know, yesterday at Dartmouth, I mean, in my robe, giving a commencement speaking, you know, to all those graduates. They're going to be so bright.

Speaker 4 They're going to be incredible people, you know and uh

Speaker 4 yeah i feel very humbled and it's uh it was a great moment you know and and you brought the family and then all the

Speaker 4 came yeah and everybody came so it really felt like a um a deep dive into american college yeah you know which I had you know I know very little about obviously in recent years I've got to know more and more about it so when they asked me I started preparing because I don't give them many speeches like that so you seem natural though like

Speaker 3 I know this about you personally you're not the biggest fan of being on the mic. You're not the biggest fan of like being.

Speaker 3 But I've met few people who are more natural at it. Like you, it's not just

Speaker 3 the glamour. It's like you have this vibe.
Like you could be a Swiss James Bond.

Speaker 4 Yeah, what is that?

Speaker 3 Swiss James Blasium. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I see him showing up.

Speaker 3 Here I am, saving everything.

Speaker 4 Very responsible. He is very responsible.
He'll be on time.

Speaker 3 Very on time. Very responsible.
Wouldn't blow anything up. No.
He would just fix things.

Speaker 3 He'd make them better.

Speaker 4 No, I mean, yeah, I mean, I like being, you know, on the mic, but then also I very much like, again, being gone from it all, you know.

Speaker 4 So, and I think for me, most important was always try to keep sort of the authenticity, you know, just being organic myself, not change too much, you know, adapt fine, you know, to stardom and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 You know, that was weird in the very beginning of my of my life.

Speaker 4 Um, but I'm happy I got out on the other side after this whole like 25 years of being in the limelight to still feel like I'm actually still a good normal guy, you know, just I don't take myself too serious.

Speaker 4 I like to make jokes all the time, as you know. And

Speaker 4 so then having a conversation with you like today, I knew it was going to be fun.

Speaker 3 So man, thank you.

Speaker 3 Why do you think that is, by the way? Like, like my dad's Swiss, so I know that Swiss people aren't like the funniest. Like, I mean, we just have to be honest.

Speaker 3 Like, what do you think it is that gave you that little that little spark? Like, you.

Speaker 3 When we were doing the Swiss tourism ad, we spent most of the day laughing. Yeah, we were.

Speaker 3 When we were playing playing the tennis, we spent most of the day laughing.

Speaker 3 When you were launching the Oliver People's Collaboration, your sunglasses, we spent most of that evening laughing. Where do you think you get that from?

Speaker 4 I mean, it has to be from traveling and getting on the road and the people I've been surrounded by.

Speaker 4 I mean, as you know, when you wait around a long and you're around good, fun people that you know life's serious enough most of the time.

Speaker 4 I mean, you have a lot of time to just, you know, talk smack all the time. So that's why I think it has to come from the road.

Speaker 4 Um, I think then when I speak French, um, whereas my French is never as good as my English, um, I still feel like I'm a teenager, right? So, when I speak French,

Speaker 4 I feel like I'm super young still and super silly because the vocabulary is way more limited.

Speaker 4 And English to me is like the language where I'm maybe the happiest and the most open. Okay, and maybe Swiss German is maybe where I'm the most,

Speaker 4 how do you say, the most me per se, where I can get into the details because that's the language I grew up with.

Speaker 3 The most precise. Of course, Swiss is the most precise.

Speaker 4 There you go. It has to be that way.
So that's why I think it also has a little bit to do with all of that. I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 For this conversation, I was trying to think of like what would

Speaker 3 be something that the listeners would really love?

Speaker 3 What would they get from Roger that they may not be able to get in another conversation?

Speaker 3 And because on the podcast, What Now, what I'm always fascinated by is not just what happened, but what that thing that happened will change for the future.

Speaker 3 So sometimes if it's news or politics, it's like that.

Speaker 4 That happened.

Speaker 3 Okay, what now? But with people, I also find it interesting because we always meet people at a moment in time.

Speaker 3 And very seldom do we get insight into where they're going to go, what they're going to do, or how they're going to do it.

Speaker 3 And then you came out with this, with this, um, with this documentary film, you know, The Twelve Final Days.

Speaker 3 And man, I like I know you fairly decently, and I've been lucky enough to know you for a few few years, but there were parts of it that were really intimate and really, you know,

Speaker 3 revealing. Yeah.
I would say. And maybe that's the first question I have for you is like,

Speaker 3 were you worried at any point? Like, why would you make a documentary that is following you for the last 12 days of one of the most illustrious careers that anyone has ever seen across any sports?

Speaker 3 You know, was there a part of you that worried that maybe you'd be losing the intimacy of that home?

Speaker 4 And that's why I think the best part of it all was it was not supposed to be a movie. It was just supposed to be for the vault to put it away for my children,

Speaker 4 for my team, for my friends one day, just so we could look back and say, like, you know, we actually grabbed some content. Because the thing is, I've been super given, open in the media.

Speaker 4 I mean, always happy to take pictures and talk to everyone. But then private is private.

Speaker 4 You know, like, nobody comes to my house we don't take do home stories it's just sort of off limits and I tried to keep my kids out of the limelight as much as I could of course they've come seen some of the matches then down the road and of course

Speaker 4 people then see them sometimes but for the most part I've really tried to keep that more of a of a private thing so when then

Speaker 4 Well, the career

Speaker 4 was coming to an end, the question was, well, where was it going to be?

Speaker 4 Where do I retire?

Speaker 4 Because I knew sort of

Speaker 4 at some point in the summer that, you know, my

Speaker 4 knee was not improving anymore. And you could see the trajectory going.
And

Speaker 4 then, you know, some people around me really thought that I should maybe have

Speaker 4 at least some footage.

Speaker 4 taken from the end because I really never wanted a camera team in my in my life because I said like I couldn't think of anything worse here I am trying to prepare for Wimbledon or French Open, US Open, you name it.

Speaker 3 And you've got all these people around you.

Speaker 4 And then they're here and then you know know, you're tying your shoes and you know they're looking over your shoulder, so you tie them extra nice.

Speaker 4 And then you go in front of the mirror, you put on the headband and you make sure it looks epic, you know, even though it makes no difference. You just want to be focused.

Speaker 4 So I think it gives, I always felt like that's not the thing I really need in my life and I don't want that. Okay, so then we decide that it's going to be London, O2,

Speaker 4 doubled with Rafa, called Rafa at this point.

Speaker 4 And I thought, okay,

Speaker 4 if I can just have a camera team around, knowing that it's going to go into the vault, I'm going to be relaxed because then I can just leave it there forever.

Speaker 4 Or if ever there is a life doc, you know, about my life 30 years from now,

Speaker 4 I actually have some extra footage while I still was active. I mean, there is obviously tons of footage out there and maybe some I

Speaker 4 never remember.

Speaker 4 And I allowed some behind the scenes sometimes at like exhibition matches, like in South America tour I had, because I just thought, okay, exhibitions you're relaxed it's much more on the fly everything there is no rules whereas you know you're playing for so many points and so much history at this other events I don't need the extra distraction okay so then

Speaker 4 the team shows up was Joe Sabia from 73 questions oh yeah yeah yeah so I was like okay I need someone I kind of know it cannot be just somebody out of nowhere that shows up and then is in my life

Speaker 4 yeah especially for something so intimate yeah it was super intimate because I said okay, if we, if I bring somebody in, I mean, the guy has to come home.

Speaker 4 And I'm like, I don't want anybody at home, but he has to. Yeah.
So we did that. And,

Speaker 4 you know, days go by as I prepare in Switzerland. I release, you know, the

Speaker 4 news to the world that I'm retiring. I read, you know, sort of my

Speaker 4 audio form letter to the world because I didn't know how I was going to announce it, if it was going to be video, but I knew I was always going to regret a video because I was going to look at it later and go like, oh my God, that's such a a bad video.

Speaker 3 But you know, you have to do something.

Speaker 4 And then a little tweet is maybe not good enough because that's not good enough for the Korean. That's not good enough.
As well, so I read this letter. So the crew is there as well.

Speaker 4 So they captured that. And then as I get ready and then travel to London and prepare with the media and all that stuff.

Speaker 4 So literally, the crew is really more just a fly in the wall, over-the-shoulder, very raw footage. And then as the days go by, Joe says, I'm so sorry, this footage is so sick.
It's crazy.

Speaker 4 I mean, it'd it'd be such a waste such a pity if you don't share this with your fans and your people like yeah whatever I'm not I'm not here for that I'm trying to cope with my emotions you're essentially making a home video right capturing a final moment so it was nuts and then of course you know everything's over Joe reaches out to me

Speaker 4 to the director a couple I don't know maybe a couple of weeks later I don't remember and he goes look I just put something together for you to see 60 minutes have a look or 50 minutes I don't remember right and he was on zoom I was watching it at the hotel in Zurich and okay cried a couple of times because again you go through the emotions of watching it and i was thinking with mirka and tony we were watching it and thinking is this something that really needs to go out to the world and maybe it's just like a snapshot of like you said that very very end of it all you know it's it's literally like rehab also for me going through it all again oh in what in what way i don't know because you know it was so emotional the end so i think for me to talk about it again and go and emotionally go through it all it is like therapy You know, it's feels good, but it's,

Speaker 4 as you know, in the movie, I'm so vulnerable. Yeah.
And I don't know. So

Speaker 4 I just hope that the people think, thank you for letting me see it. So cool.
You actually didn't keep it. And so when I hear that people like it, I'm just,

Speaker 4 I'm just relieved because it was so hard at the end.

Speaker 3 I know for a fact that people are going to love it because

Speaker 3 it's not just the fact that they're watching a documentary about Roger Federer.

Speaker 3 It's the fact that you are bringing them into a space that we very seldom get to see, which is the human side of being an athlete. Do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 3 When we watch the documentary and when we think about teammates, relationships, partnerships, I think

Speaker 3 arguably the greatest doubles partnership of all time is you and Mirka.

Speaker 3 I

Speaker 3 watch the two of you. I've seen you at everything from the Met Gala to

Speaker 3 just like a little vacation together to chilling in Switzerland to whatever it is. The two of you have the most beautiful synchronicity between you as human beings.
Thank you.

Speaker 3 I've always wondered what that is.

Speaker 3 What do you think it is about Miyaka that

Speaker 3 enables you to go off and become the greatest of all time?

Speaker 3 What do you think it is about her? And what do you think you, in turn, give her as well? Because the two of you really have a wonderful synergy as human beings.

Speaker 4 I mean, I think you have to go back to the early days, you know, where

Speaker 4 when we got together, pretty much at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I was young at the time.
Mirka was, you know, in the middle of her career,

Speaker 4 started having some heel

Speaker 4 Achilles issues and was struggling after the surgery to come back. I remember she was on crutches walking all the way through Paris at the time.

Speaker 4 Super tough moments, you know, and she was on crutches for a long time.

Speaker 4 I mean, over a month, I think, you know, at the time, I was like, my God, I mean, how long are you having these crutches for?

Speaker 4 I thought, like, it's just a surgery, and we get up on the horse, you know, and you keep going. And then she was doing rehab, always pain.

Speaker 4 And then I told her, but why don't you just, I mean, retire? I mean, like, this is not the idea of playing tennis with pain all the time. And then we can be on tour together.

Speaker 4 And I was, you know, on the ascend of starting to win Wimbledon, top 10, world number one. And she's like, yeah, you're right.
You know, let me, I'm done. It's good.
And then, wow.

Speaker 4 And then here we are, me.

Speaker 3 Oh, I don't know if I should retire. I'm 36, you know, 37, 38.

Speaker 4 You know, it's so hard to retire. And I'm thinking of her.
She just went, okay, I'm done. You know, it's no problem.
So, what's a big deal? I'm like, well, and I'm here I am.

Speaker 4 It's the biggest deal in the world to retire and make it so emotional. And I love the game so much, which she does too.

Speaker 4 But I think she loved the tour through my career and the travels and the logistics behind and like being my rock really through thick and thin. And she's been incredible

Speaker 4 throughout. And then first half, thankfully we had it with no children.
And thankfully we had it with children the second half.

Speaker 4 And that's obviously like that was a whirlwind of a life that we had.

Speaker 4 And I missed that, to be honest, like creating that home away from home experience, like in a room like this, creating a corner where the kids would be playing.

Speaker 4 And then I would jump in and out and read a book and go build Lego together and whatever we did, you know, create little corners like this was great.

Speaker 4 So Mirka has been phenomenal, you know, and I think that's why also it was so hard for her at the end when she could see the suffering that I was going through with my knee.

Speaker 4 And she's like, this is not the Roger that I know who, you know, who can crush everybody and beat everybody and we just have a good time. If he loses, no problem.

Speaker 4 But if he loses, at least, you know, he's feeling okay, but she could see what I was going through on a daily basis. So I think we were all super relieved at the end.

Speaker 4 And, you know, in the movie as well, she speaks to the, she speaks to camera, which she hasn't done in like 18 years.

Speaker 4 People don't even know her voice, you know, because she's like, I'm done with the media because once she was taking care of the press.

Speaker 4 And I just thought that was not a great situation to have your, you know, your wife or girlfriend at the time take care of the press.

Speaker 4 And all you say is 99% of the time, oh, I'm so sorry, Roger doesn't have time to do media. So she got a bad rap for that.
So then we said, like, well, why not just stop doing that?

Speaker 4 We give it to somebody else and she won't do any more interviews. Who knew that she was not going to do interviews for like 18 years? And she did one, just quick one now for the,

Speaker 4 you know, for the movie

Speaker 4 at the end. We just wanted to capture just to see how she felt.
And actually, the beautiful thing was, I think when she was speaking to camera, I was actually in the bedroom of the...

Speaker 4 the girls, I believe the boys were there too, maybe. And I told them that I was retiring because I didn't tell them until I read the audio form at home because I didn't want them to tell their kids.

Speaker 4 And then it leaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we were crying in the bedroom. She's crying in the front, talking about how much the career and how much I've meant to her.
And I mean, she's been incredible.

Speaker 4 I mean, throughout because it hasn't been easy for her, you know, by any stretch. And

Speaker 4 but so much fun. And we look back with great, great memories.

Speaker 3 We're going to continue this conversation right after this short break.

Speaker 3 One of my favorite moments is where you're sitting in the change room, and I think

Speaker 3 you're going to be playing against Francis, right? It's like it's for the doubles match, and

Speaker 3 you're talking about your knee.

Speaker 4 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 And you say, like half joking, you go, if I knew it was going to be what it is, you know, and I'm paraphrasing, you go, if I knew it was going to be like this, I would have never gotten into it, I would have never gotten into it in the first place.

Speaker 3 And, you know,

Speaker 3 I obviously don't take it literally. I don't think you would have never done it.
But I do think people can take for granted how much sacrifice goes into a career like yours.

Speaker 3 You know, physical sacrifice, mental sacrifice, the time sacrifice of life.

Speaker 3 When you look at your body now, your mind,

Speaker 3 your everything,

Speaker 3 do you ever take stock and think to yourself, man, I really gave a lot to tennis as a career? Yeah.

Speaker 4 and uh especially when i see like yesterday you know you see the french open finals alcaraz against vera five sets and they're chasing each other around the corner i'm like i did that too you know i did that too many many times uh yesterday at uh when i was the commencement speaker i was talking about that that i played 1526 matches i had to look it up how many i did that me realize my god there was a lot of tennis a lot of running and i i'm so relieved that i don't have to go through it anymore you know you know because i mean as fun as it was but the, especially towards the end, I remember, I mean, the warm-ups, you know, the stretchings to warm up, to go warm up, then tennis, to take a break, to then warm up the body again, to then go play, you know, a match.

Speaker 4 I mean, it was.

Speaker 4 massive monumental effort to do that now you can say like well what's the big deal it's just tennis yes just tennis but it's it's your life and you and you've been trying to you try to perform at your best in front of people and you know that better than anybody and performing in front of people just adds that extra pressure.

Speaker 4 There's no, okay, cut, let's do that again. That didn't work out.
Like, you're out there and you're vulnerable, and it's tough. So, I honestly, I feel super relieved.

Speaker 4 And I see any athlete now or any person who performs at the highest of level, especially with a live audience, you know, I respect them. And I'm so happy I have that.

Speaker 4 But it almost feels like it was a different me now. I don't know.
You probably still so in the thick of it, you know, but no, no, you know what?

Speaker 3 I actually, I actually agree with the distance now. Yeah, because it's funny, and we talked about this.
like

Speaker 3 you announced like your departure from tennis around the same time I was departing from the daily show.

Speaker 3 And I think I can relate to many of the things you're saying.

Speaker 3 There's a moment in your life that is defined by a certain action and an activity. You know what it's going to be like when you wake up.
You know what it's going to be like when you go to bed.

Speaker 3 It's very simple, actually. Your body starts to get used to it.
Your mind starts to get used to it. And when you step out of it, like you said,

Speaker 3 there's the grief of what you've let go of, but then you start to experience like a little newness, a little free, a little, you know, like for me, my version of the, of the, you know, no tennis warm-up is some days I don't read the news.

Speaker 3 Yeah, now I can just do that. I just

Speaker 4 before you had to know what was going on.

Speaker 3 I would be at parties. I'll never forget this.
I was at like a dinner party.

Speaker 3 And in the middle of the dinner party, a notification came up on my phone. There was breaking news.

Speaker 3 And I literally had to stepped away from the table and I went to read, you know, just because I was like, I don't want to not know what this is because my job requires it.

Speaker 3 And now I'm just like, hey, phone off. Yeah.
Let's I'll see what happens.

Speaker 3 But I'm sure it's like that for you, right?

Speaker 4 Similar to me now as well. And where I feel it the most is where, you know, if I'm with my children or with my friends, I don't really have to think about tomorrow's practice or

Speaker 4 tomorrow's match, you know, like where all of a sudden you're sitting there, I don't know, you're having a good time, but you're thinking, so when he goes back and down the line on me, and I'm on the four and on the run, do I hit it back up the line or do I go cross-court?

Speaker 4 Hey, you know, you're like, you end up visualizing.

Speaker 3 Wait, wait, wait, wait, don't, Don't rush away from that.

Speaker 3 No, this is fascinating to me.

Speaker 3 I've always wondered this about

Speaker 3 the best athletes in the game. You have memories and visualizations that AI would want to replicate.

Speaker 3 Talk to me a little bit about that. So

Speaker 3 you're going into a match. You know a match is coming up in the next few days.

Speaker 3 You're visualizing. what the match will be and how your opponent plays and you're basically playing the match in your head before the match.

Speaker 4 Yes, I mean, yes, absolutely. And I think some do it by watching video.

Speaker 4 I didn't watch a lot of video of my opponent, even though towards the end I did, because there's a couple of things that worked for me:

Speaker 4 the memory of remembering how it feels to play an opponent, then what I would want to do. So, how does that match up together?

Speaker 4 Then, how has my opponent played that particular week compared to how have we matched up against each other, let's say, the last 10 years?

Speaker 4 And then you have fast court, slow court. So all of that matters.
How do I feel that week? The things I've been doing maybe prior to the match.

Speaker 4 Have I been playing aggressive? Have I been playing more safe?

Speaker 4 Am I carrying an injury or not? How do I feel? And then, especially against the best players, the ones I've played the most against, you know,

Speaker 4 it's always

Speaker 4 a game of chess, like for pattern, who gets the patterns they want, right? And that's then when you realize, well, okay, it's very clear what he wants, it's very clear what I want.

Speaker 4 Now, the question is: Are we one of us going to back out of it, or are we just going to say, Okay, let's see what you got on the day he might not have a best day, maybe I don't have my best day.

Speaker 4 So, obviously, there's this clash at the beginning, and then you got to decide that we keep going, or do we like start deviating from it?

Speaker 4 And that's where, like a skier, you know, who sees the ski slope? Yes, we see those same patterns I was

Speaker 4 saying to you before. Like, if he goes, I don't know, short angle cross-court, do I have to go back cross-court and let him try to thread the needle up the line?

Speaker 4 Or do I take charge and say, like, do I go up the line and break it up? But then does it look like an escape from me? Or is that a specific play I use? You know, and then all this also

Speaker 4 statistics stuff came in towards the end of my career, which can really

Speaker 4 make your, how do you say,

Speaker 4 your mind crazy.

Speaker 3 Yeah, how do you feel about that? Because this is something that I've heard from from athletes across all disciplines.

Speaker 3 You know, I remember sitting with a few players from the Premier League and Syria, and they were telling me how in football, in soccer, now it's all become data analytics.

Speaker 3 So back in the day, the coach would tell you, this is how you should move, this is what you should do, and have fun. And now a coach goes, no, when that player gets the ball, we all move like this.

Speaker 3 You come down, you move up, you do that. When that player gets the ball, you do this.
Correct. Because 70% of the time, they're going to cross the ball over here.
That's right.

Speaker 3 82% of the time, they're going to pass it across this. 23% of the time, if you press them, they're going to do

Speaker 3 that. That's what's coming as well.
And with tennis, I've heard that this is also increasing where now they give players like a book and they say.

Speaker 3 study this. These are the percentage odds for what your opponent is going to be doing or not doing in these types of situations.
But like, how do you get that in your head?

Speaker 4 So that's the thing.

Speaker 4 I am very much the guy who likes to go with my power.

Speaker 4 I believe that, I don't know, playing attack and tennis, attacking, breaking down my opponent's backhand is the play.

Speaker 4 So obviously you're not going to just hit into the backhand all the time and try to break it down. No, you have to open it up through the forehand.
So, then the backhand corner gets bigger.

Speaker 4 And then, obviously, you can hit it hard into the backhand corner, spinny into the backhand corner, slice it short, long. You do all these things.

Speaker 4 And then, when, let's say, the most important moments come around, that's when you then ask your opponent all the questions that you, you know, you've been massaging that bad side, let's say, so many times that he has these doubts that he obviously doesn't want to hit all those different types of backhands.

Speaker 4 Let's just say

Speaker 3 now.

Speaker 4 And then, you know, you thought you think it through with your coaches and you have a game plan. Then, of course, you can think about all the problems and all the strength your opponent has.

Speaker 4 But I feel like in my best years, I just focus almost on my own game, and the rest, I'll wing it, and I'll figure it out.

Speaker 4 Towards the end, then, like you said, this analytics came in, and then you would hear that, I don't know, on break point, he would hit 73% chance that he goes to your backhand.

Speaker 4 So, now, what do you do? Do you say, like, well, obviously, I'm waiting here on the backhand side, Or do you say, like, well, hold on a second. He knows that I know, so I know he knows.

Speaker 4 And then he actually burns you up the fore through the forehand. So you just so that's where I have preferred sometimes not to know.

Speaker 4 I just go with the feeling of how the last game went, where he was serving. Was he making the last serves? Was he missing them? Was he going for it? What was he doing?

Speaker 4 And I just go with the intuition. So

Speaker 4 that part I enjoyed less, you know, when it got so

Speaker 4 specific, like a Formula One car, everything's so everything becomes predictable.

Speaker 3 Yeah, let me let me ask you this on a philosophical level then. You know, do you

Speaker 3 hearing you talk about this makes me think of how you can apply this to many things in life?

Speaker 3 Yeah, you know, in society, sometimes the downfall of data is that it looks backwards, it doesn't look forwards.

Speaker 3 You know, so you go, this has happened, ergo, it will happen, as opposed to realizing that if you do something new, you can change the data. You know, in relationships, people will talk about this.

Speaker 3 They go like, sometimes when couples are fighting, you go like, oh, why don't you buy her flowers? Oh, she doesn't care. She'll just tell me this.

Speaker 3 It's like, well, you're using the data now to assume something about somebody's future action.

Speaker 3 And it's interesting that you talk about that because everyone who's a fan of tennis and a fan of you has always gone, it feels like you're flowing.

Speaker 3 It feels like you, it feels like you're walking through it.

Speaker 3 It feels like you have this idea, you know, but I, but I like, I wonder now what that brain is doing now that there isn't tennis to think about.

Speaker 3 Because that brain, it's not like your brain just goes away. It's not like your your brain just turns off.

Speaker 3 So, what's what's Roger applying that brain to now, or do you get to rest that and think of something else?

Speaker 4 I have the feeling, maybe, like you said, Trevor, it's it's maybe a little bit of a holding position, a little bit of a resting phase because I have retired just five minutes ago.

Speaker 3 Wait, wait, wait, let's pause here. Yeah, this is your resting phase, I mean, resting phase as in wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, yo, yeah, bro.
Yo, Roger, I'm gonna call you out.

Speaker 3 No one's gonna call you out.

Speaker 3 No, this is your resting phase, yo.

Speaker 4 Okay, let's go.

Speaker 3 Let's go. Launching a sunglasses brand that was sold out in minutes.
All right. Continuing to blow up one of the fastest-growing sports brands in the world, right?

Speaker 3 Which is on, traveling around the world still with like as a Rolex ambassador, still being the face of tennis, releasing a documentary, going around the world. Like, this is your resting phase?

Speaker 4 Well, I feel like this,

Speaker 4 I say it because this year in particular, I was very strong with my wife to say, you know what, let's plan all our vacations super early. Okay.
So nobody can say, like, oh, by the way, can you come to

Speaker 4 this one thing? Okay. And I'm like, yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 4 I'm in Vietnam right now, you know, or I will be in Vietnam at this time, or I'll be in Bangkok, I'll be, you know, somewhere around the world. So I really protected my schedule.

Speaker 4 I feel at a very good level this year. I'm really happy we did that.
I told you, we just came back six weeks from

Speaker 4 Asia, from an amazing trip. We're in Thailand.

Speaker 4 Before that, we were in Japan last October, and we had a wonderful Christmas in the Maldives, you know, so things I really, really looked forward to for many, many years while still on tours that one day I can go visit places without the stress of having to practice or actually play another match there.

Speaker 3 Man, it's so funny you say this.

Speaker 4 And it's been great for me to do that. So I know I'll get back into it.

Speaker 4 And then, like you said, I have all these projects, you know, that all of a sudden came about, but not almost because I wanted them so badly. They came back organically.

Speaker 4 I mean, on, they're just around the corner. So I go to the offices and we talk about stuff.
Zendaya just signed with on now, so that's been so cool.

Speaker 3 By the way, that story is amazing on so many different levels. Like, Zendaya is easily, I mean, she's just in the stratosphere of her career.
You know, everything she touches turns to gold.

Speaker 3 But I also love the connection to the fact that, like, she just put out the movie Challenges.

Speaker 4 And all about tennis.

Speaker 3 It's all about tennis.

Speaker 3 But what's interesting, and this is what I love about the serendipity of how some things tie together. The movie

Speaker 3 seems like it's about tennis, but I argue it's not. It just happens in the world of tennis.

Speaker 3 And it's really a movie about relationships.

Speaker 3 It's really a movie about expectations. It's a movie about pressure.
It's a movie about self-identity.

Speaker 3 You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 And in that movie, in the movie, Zendaya's character, and spoiler alerts, if you haven't watched it, just skip this part.

Speaker 3 Zendaya's character is probably going to be the best tennis player in the world.

Speaker 3 She She suffers an injury. She can't play.
Her role changes dynamically. And it's all about this.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 there were some people who said, oh man, this sort of reminds me of like Roger and Mirka's story. And

Speaker 4 then the director,

Speaker 3 but the director came out and said, no, that's exactly what inspired me. He said he was fascinated.

Speaker 3 By Mirka's suffering through

Speaker 4 2019 Wimbledon finals.

Speaker 3 Wimbledon was on. You're on the courts.

Speaker 3 And the camera keeps cutting together.

Speaker 4 And that's what they do at Wimbledon, right? They always go from player to team or player to wife or player to coach.

Speaker 4 And it's such a tennis thing because in American football or baseball or football, they don't always cut to the team, right? But in tennis, it's such a thing.

Speaker 3 Don't go anywhere because we got more. What now? After this.

Speaker 3 It feels like you've brought your precision, your thoughtfulness, and your joy out of tennis into another idea and that that is a sports brand.

Speaker 3 I know you're really thoughtful about why and you know, why you do or don't do things. So I've been lucky enough to be in Switzerland with you and to like feel you moving through space.

Speaker 3 Like when we're in the train station, for instance,

Speaker 3 do you apply that to yourself as well as Roger?

Speaker 3 Like, do you feel that you have, you know, maybe an obligation is the wrong word, but I can't think of a better one right now to really represent Swiss identity, to really represent Switzerland, to really represent the Swiss people.

Speaker 4 I think we're proud of our Swiss made and, you know, like we do it with precision and well.

Speaker 4 And when you know there's like a Swiss cross on something, it's supposed to be done to a level that not many other countries can bring it to.

Speaker 4 I don't know, maybe, you know, Italy when it comes to really beautiful clothes or Japan when you know that the craftsmanship is really special. And I think the Swiss angle has that as well.

Speaker 4 You know, we're very proud of it, like with our, you know, watches and cheese and chocolate and and mountains and whatever it is you know we're very proud of it all as you saw you know when we did the swiss tourism out together so yeah um but on an individual level though it hasn't always been that way like no in the earlier swiss um

Speaker 3 okay this is the way i've perceived it you know like you know having family members in switzerland and spending a little time out there it's like Swiss culture is also a little bit of like, hey, don't stick out too much.

Speaker 3 Oh, for sure. We're all equal.
We're all doing this thing. We're all as important as the other.

Speaker 4 And so in many ways like the culture of personality so the beginning it was funny like i didn't feel like um

Speaker 4 yeah sure i'm proud to represent switzerland when it was a team sport and it's a game switzerland you know like say in the davis cup or olympics and so forth but you know when i was traveling on my own and i feel like yeah sure i represent switzerland there's a swiss flag but never to the extent towards sort of the second half of my career when i really started feeling the swiss people really proud of me they were very excited for me and every year that went by and the more famous I became, the more important it was for me to represent Switzerland the right way because I know that they care.

Speaker 4 Yeah, we're subdued about it. We're not like, let's not make a big fuss about it, but we really are.
And honestly, they, you know, it's hard to get them out of their shells, yeah,

Speaker 4 shells, and come like, say, like, okay, Roger's the greatest, whatever.

Speaker 4 No, he's good, you know, we like him. And when maybe I'm not around, you ask Swiss guy, like, oh, Federal, he's amazing, you know, we're so proud of him.
So that's been amazing to me.

Speaker 3 You know what's funny is most of them don't even say Federer, they always say Roger. That's what I love the most.

Speaker 3 Genuinely, everywhere I go, they come up to me and they're like, ah, Trevor, then they're like, good seed. Then they're like, we saw your thing with Rogia.
Like, yeah, with Rocha. Yeah, it was very...

Speaker 3 We love Rogia. How is it? But they all say Roger, which I think is a testament to how they see you.

Speaker 4 No, and I've always tried to keep that connection going. I've done, I mean, countless hours of Swiss media as well because it would have been easy just to say, let's just keep it to English.

Speaker 4 Right, right. Generic, save time and stuff.
But I always knew I was going to live in Switzerland. I love the conjugative, been the best.
So it's been great. Right.
Couldn't be happier.

Speaker 3 So let's talk a little bit about, you know, you enjoying this relative new freedom.

Speaker 3 You know, just being able to try everything, knowing there's no match coming up, knowing there's no, you know, even for your body, you just like wake up the way you wake up and do your thing.

Speaker 3 You posted a video on Instagram hitting a golf ball.

Speaker 3 Right.

Speaker 3 Have you played golf or not?

Speaker 4 Say again? Have you played golf much?

Speaker 3 I wouldn't say I've played golf. I'll say I've hit a golf ball.
I don't think what I did wasn't playing.

Speaker 3 I'm terrible. I also don't get it, to be honest with you.
I really don't. I loved learning tennis, and I still play when I get a chance.
Good. I enjoy it.

Speaker 3 Yeah, golf, I never, you know, but you posted the video. Yeah.

Speaker 3 And is this...

Speaker 3 First of all, how new are you at it, really? Because it was flawless.

Speaker 4 No, I know it looked good, but it looked very good. But those balls,

Speaker 3 you know,

Speaker 4 they have a way to slide over.

Speaker 4 That's funny. Oh, my God.
But no, I've played throughout my

Speaker 4 life on the road. Okay, okay.

Speaker 4 But never to the extent where Rafa or

Speaker 4 Henman and other players, you know, they played all the time. Every chance

Speaker 4 they would go out.

Speaker 4 And me, I was, especially the last, say, eight years or so, I've maybe played like three, four times, you know. And my parents both liked it.
They liked to go out.

Speaker 4 So then I was like, you know, I'll never go out there and start golf if my wife's not into it or my kids are not into it.

Speaker 4 Yeah, this just takes me too much time out there and I have other other things to do. I'm too busy.
And anyway, my knee was crazy. So I was like, I don't need to agitate the knee.

Speaker 4 So now in December, I was in Dubai. I was like, why don't I like take a few lessons and see

Speaker 4 how it is?

Speaker 4 For the first time, maybe a lesson. I don't know.

Speaker 4 I thought that my technique was okay. But obviously, I was still very, I'm still at the moment very erratic with my shots.
And I'll never forget the second lesson I take.

Speaker 4 My golf coach, he tells me, a golf pro, I don't know, golf coach, he tells me, what are you thinking about when you you stand over the ball like that I'm like

Speaker 4 I mean I hope it goes straight you know I mean what you think of something else or what I don't know what else I could think of he goes like that is the holy grail my friend because I mean you have so many things to think about normally about your positioning your backswing impact and follow-through so I'm like okay

Speaker 4 so you're already on the right path just thinking I hope it goes straight four lessons later I stand over the ball and I tell him hey you know what I know what you're saying here I am lining up, and everything's like ultra tense.

Speaker 4 It's not relaxed anymore. I'm not even thinking about where I'm hitting the ball.
I just want the backswing to be okay and the impact and the follow-through. And it's wild how golf is so technical.

Speaker 4 Yeah. And you know, you stand there and you can take so much time, so effortless, but it's actually not, right? And tennis, you're kind of always on the move.

Speaker 4 It's like we would be tinkering with our serve for life. I mean, of course, you get nuts, you know, just

Speaker 4 doing the same position again. You're like, no, let's just adjust it ever so so slightly.
And every adjustment has an impact.

Speaker 4 So, anyway, why I like golf is going out, and then especially everybody started to play as well, the kids, Miri, and everything.

Speaker 4 And I just really thought also for philanthropy, you know, for maybe the foundation stuff, I know that maybe through golf I could be out there because maybe tennis I can't always be out there, but it gives me a chance to maybe have some fun golf events I could join, or I could do it with my foundation, and I could play for the rest of my life.

Speaker 4 So, why not take some lessons? And that's what I'm going through right now.

Speaker 3 Let's talk a little bit about

Speaker 3 another aspect of the film that for me really

Speaker 3 think is one of the main pillars of who Roger Federer is. You can't watch this documentary

Speaker 3 and not think about how important relationships are.

Speaker 3 You know, when you're watching the final 12 days of your career,

Speaker 3 One of the scenes that is, I mean, everyone's probably going to cry when they watch it, and it's a good cry, Is watching you

Speaker 3 and the team, and it's like Team Europe, and you're saying goodbye, and it's this whole thing.

Speaker 3 And everyone has cried. You know, you've taken center stage and you've spoken, and Rafa's crying, and you're walking into the change rooms together.

Speaker 3 And then Rafa goes off, and he goes off into another one because he's still crying and he's so emotional.

Speaker 3 This maybe is something that I think is not just

Speaker 3 a beautiful testament to you, but it's an interesting look at relationships and how how we think of them.

Speaker 3 There is no greater rival in your career than Rafael Nadal.

Speaker 3 This is the person who was always between you and another grand slam, another grand slam.

Speaker 3 And obviously, Novak came in time, but you and Rafa we think of as being synonymously, you know, head to head all the time.

Speaker 3 You wouldn't think in most stories that the person who would cry more than you

Speaker 3 would be your number one quote-unquote rival. And yet it seems like it wasn't necessarily a rivalry.
It seems like it was a competition and there's a love as brothers.

Speaker 3 Tell me a little bit about that relationship and how you were still able to compete at the highest level against somebody like that, beat them, have them beat you, but then still have that love between you.

Speaker 4 So I think what I like about the story of now, take tennis as a whole.

Speaker 4 Sure, we can take Rafa, but we can also take Novak or Murray or Abrinko, whoever we want to take. But let's say, take Rafa, to come through a career of 25 years or 15, whatever.

Speaker 4 It's long, a lot of matches,

Speaker 4 a lot of tough battles. Like you said, you know, you win some, you lose some.

Speaker 4 Sometimes you don't like them, then you like them again.

Speaker 4 Then you don't like his team or you don't like his coach, and then they have a problem with you, and you said something, he said something.

Speaker 4 And, you know, there's always this agitation, but actually, there's mutual respect and so forth. And then to come out at the end of it all and actually be like,

Speaker 4 hi, five, that was cool. That stuff was cool.
And you know what? We can't wait to maybe hang out more in the future.

Speaker 4 Or hopefully, we'll see each other again down the road and be on a rocking chair one day and we'll look back and go like, that was fun. And thank you.

Speaker 4 And I said that as well in the commencement speech yesterday.

Speaker 4 I thanked all the players for making me better and showing me my flaws, you know, for making me hopefully a better, not just a tennis player, but also a better person.

Speaker 4 Beautiful. So I think this last 12 days, you know, that we're going to see

Speaker 4 coming out now is a beautiful story as a whole, I think, for that message, because I think a lot of time we tell the other, you know,

Speaker 4 as a coach or a father or whoever it is, you have to be tough and you've got to take him down and you've got to beat him up and, you know, you've got to be wanting to win and you've got to show everybody and you can't be the nicest.

Speaker 4 And so I'm like, yeah, I get it. But it's just tennis or it's just sports.

Speaker 4 Come on, let's be friendly and nice to one another and we can do it in a good way, in an elegant way, I always call it you know so I think that moment shows that in in a perfect way like you said the segue from from the court we come into the locker room and I just felt it was very important for me to also tell all the other players that they

Speaker 4 ended up being this these co-stars in this movie which was never supposed to be one and I just wanted to let them know because I didn't know at the time this was going to be a movie I just wanted to let them know thank you for being here thank you for I hope

Speaker 4 you know how much this means to me that you guys were all here and you came to my last game, even though at the time when they signed up, they didn't know it was going to be my last game. Maybe

Speaker 4 you would have to ask them if they're how happy they were to be there. And I think Rafa, maybe in particular, he was not ready for it to go down so emotional and so crazy.

Speaker 4 He just wanted to like, I'll play doubles with you and be great and we'll be there. And it'll be, you know, tad emotional at the end, you know.

Speaker 4 But I think we, nobody knew that it was going to be this intense because I think there was this beauty.

Speaker 4 We had this moment where we could just take it all in and our careers were flashing in front of our eyes, especially for them who are still going.

Speaker 4 They're like, we are so fortunate, I think all of us, that we are living as a tennis player. We're so fortunate to still be going.
Hopefully, you know, Novak can go and crush every record.

Speaker 4 I mean, hopefully, Murray can play as long as his hip allows him to, and he still has the hunger. Rafa knew that he was in a tough spot as well, and he hopes that he can still win as much as possible.

Speaker 4 And here I am, one of of their big rivals, going out and seeing it live in slow motion, almost go out. And it was tough.

Speaker 4 And that's why I think the movie is going to be really beautiful of showing that.

Speaker 4 And I hope, actually, in many ways, that many future great athletes, or not so great, doesn't matter, will maybe give us that glimpse into the retirement moment.

Speaker 4 Because we don't know how maybe a Formula One driver, a rugby player, a golfer, how they retire, what they have to go through on that final stretch when you head into retirement at a young age, you know.

Speaker 4 I mean, gymnasts, they do it at 20-something years old. You know, I now had the chance to play till 40, 41, you know.
So I think everybody does it in their way.

Speaker 4 So I think, like you said, there's these beautiful moments like in the locker room, super raw, super unexpected as well in many ways. But

Speaker 4 it's again, it's that beautiful sign of camaraderie.

Speaker 4 I know we're a team at the Labour Cup, but still, for me to be able to tell them, and a very strong moment was actually at the press conference, like a couple of days earlier, if you remember, where I talk about I am so happy, where I grabbed the mic one more time, and I just had to say it in front of everybody.

Speaker 4 Here I am sitting with, I mean, Borg and Rafa and Novak, Andy, and Casper and Matteo, and Cameron, and everybody was there.

Speaker 4 And I'm just saying how happy I am that I get to go first, you know, and that's not like Rafa retiring before me or Novak or Andy, but actually I go first, like it was supposed to be because I am five, six years older than them.

Speaker 3 And I hear what you mean.

Speaker 4 It would have been painful for me to see one of of them go first because of injury. So I was supposed to be going first.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I had a career without them in the beginning, early years, and they should have one without me, too. So I just felt it was important for them to hear that, the pressed for them to hear that.

Speaker 4 And I just thought it was, for me, a very strong emotional moment. You can see it how then when I walk out from the press conference, I'm like, oh, God, this was a brutal press conference.

Speaker 4 But, you know, we're getting closer to the match, so

Speaker 4 we're almost almost done.

Speaker 3 So, so, so, let me ask you this: when When you have that kind of support,

Speaker 3 when you have that camaraderie,

Speaker 3 where do you find it now? Because while tennis took a toll on your body, it also gave you something on an emotional level, gave you something on a mental level.

Speaker 3 Where do you search for that now? Where do you find it?

Speaker 4 So I'm happy that we always kept a really nice group of friends throughout the world, but also in Switzerland. I always have my roots down.

Speaker 4 I think there I can really thank my wife as well, especially to always keep in touch with everybody.

Speaker 4 Because I always worry for players and when players ask, seek me for advice or, you know, you mentor them sometimes or they're in a tough spot, they always tell me, you know, remember to keep in touch with your friends because one day you're maybe going to be injured or your career is over.

Speaker 4 You're going to come home. And what are you going to come home to?

Speaker 4 An apartment? And that's it? A house? I mean, but a house with no people or an apartment with no friends around is going to be...

Speaker 4 It's not so much fun. It's not a home.
So I feel like that's now where our big focus is as well. And that's why I was talking about like taking a bit of a break.

Speaker 4 Maybe it's not a real break, but you know what I'm saying? No, no, it is.

Speaker 3 It's about holding it.

Speaker 4 Actually going to weddings, going to birthday parties, going to things I could never do. Yeah.

Speaker 4 And actually catching up with that, but also maybe giving my friends their time now because they invested so much time in me. I know they love the trip to...

Speaker 4 Wimbledon and come to London and then come watch a game of me. I know and I organize a ticket and so forth.
But they still took their vacation or they took time out to come see me play.

Speaker 4 And I now return the favor by going, trying to see a lot of my friends and my students. And I feel like I get a lot of energy and a lot of happiness from that.

Speaker 3 Well, Roger, before I let you go, there's

Speaker 3 the question that I love to ask everybody on the podcast is what now?

Speaker 3 And it could apply to everything. It could apply to anything.

Speaker 3 I'm selfishly curious about this. One is the what now for for your career.
When we first sat down and had like a real conversation like this, it was literally my final 12 days of the daily show.

Speaker 3 That's right. You know, was I the second last guest? Yeah,

Speaker 3 second to last guest.

Speaker 3 No, I think you were the last. You might have been the last guest actually.

Speaker 4 How did that feel for you? Did it like the end then? Did it also feel emotionally? Were you like, so I actually, this is great. Happy.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 this is the way I think, and I would love to know how you view it. You know,

Speaker 3 I think any ending that is good should leave you with a little bit of mourning or regret.

Speaker 3 Any ending that is good, anything that has ended when it should end, should have you just yearning a little bit for more of it.

Speaker 3 When I was leaving the daily show, I wasn't like, good riddance. There was a part of me going, man.

Speaker 4 It would be good to continue.

Speaker 3 It would have, maybe I should, just a little bit more. Maybe, but I think that's what it should be.

Speaker 3 If you're leaving anything, a relationship, a job, a career in sport, and you're like, oh, thank God it's gone. Then I argue it's too late.

Speaker 4 Yes, yes, you've overstayed. Yeah.

Speaker 3 You know, so definitely for me it was and then just like you you know

Speaker 3 there was there was a whole period in between where we couldn't really do much and there were strikes and everything oh yeah and then we won the emmy for the show so it was like we got to come back and celebrate that and it's like you know you going back to wimbledon yeah being in the space but not being in the space comes with a different feeling you get to feel new emotions yeah yeah you're super distant but like exactly and the same way you're talking about with the documentary now is like you get to live that moment again but not be in it yeah which is an interesting way to feel.

Speaker 3 So I guess, like, yeah, what now for you as Roger, the person? Like, because really the sky is the limit.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 So what now? I think I'm still in a search mode. I'm not exactly sure what it's going to be like.

Speaker 4 I've been trying to, like I explained before, protect the schedule a little bit, make sure I'm a dad, you know. Boys are 10, girls are 14.
It's a big deal right now.

Speaker 4 I feel like it's an important time for me to be around and support them, help them.

Speaker 4 So going through the schedule with Mirka and with the kids, making sure we do all of that stuff as much as we can well, I think is a huge priority for me. And then, while we do that, of course,

Speaker 4 try to have fun with other projects that we're working on. You mentioned so many.
We're also working on an Aselene project, you know, that comes out, a table, a coffee table book in September. Okay.

Speaker 4 Launch is going to be in New York, actually.

Speaker 4 So, I'm looking forward to that. And then, I think, as we move forward, you know, I think

Speaker 4 I think I will know more, let's say, in a year's time or so, because I feel like I'm still a little bit in, let's relax, let's enjoy ourselves, but have some cool projects and take that on.

Speaker 4 So that's going to be definitely, you know, a priority for me as well.

Speaker 4 So pretty laid back, you know, always see what is the tennis space doing for me.

Speaker 4 Problem is, I think either you're a coach, mentor, or you are a

Speaker 4 journalist or let's say commentator. And And I just don't see myself doing that quite yet because I just don't have the time, you know, with next to being there for my children.
So,

Speaker 4 so, really, a bit of a transition phase, too. And I think it's a good spot to be in.
It's a great spot. Yeah, it's a good spot.

Speaker 3 When you accept it, it's a great spot.

Speaker 4 Yeah, exactly. And whereas I feel like if I look back maybe nine months ago, I wasn't so sure.
I just felt like I needed to dive into the next project. And then like, yeah, maybe not.

Speaker 4 Was I supposed to go there? I feel like everywhere I go right now, I feel like I'm happy to be there.

Speaker 3 That's amazing, man.

Speaker 3 Well,

Speaker 3 Roger, congratulations again.

Speaker 3 You know, and thank you for sharing it with us. I do think it's wonderful for people to see all sides of a career that affected them in such a wonderful way.
So, this is really great.

Speaker 3 Thank you, my friend.

Speaker 4 Thank you. Love being on the podcast.
Well done.

Speaker 3 Happy for you too, man. Thank you very much.
Thank you.

Speaker 3 What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions and Fullwell 73.

Speaker 3 The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Sanaz Yamin and Jody Avigan. Our senior producer is Jess Hackle, Irena Henke and Claire Slaughter are our producers.

Speaker 3 Music, Mixing and Mastering by Hannes Brown. Thank you so much for listening.
Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now.