Roger Federer: Dominating like Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher? I thought it was impossible

Roger Federer admits he thought it was “impossible” to stay at the top as long as the likes of Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods.

Schumacher won seven Formula 1 titles with Benetton and Ferrari between 1994 and 2004, winning his final championship aged 35. He later returned to the sport with Mercedes and spent three seasons with the German-based team from 2010 to 2012, scoring a podium finish in his final season aged 43.

Woods dominated golf in the late nineties and noughties, but perhaps his biggest success came at the 2019 Masters when he defied injury and expectations to win a fifth green jacket aged 43.

And Federer admits those stars’ determination to keep going showed it was possible on the tennis court too.

“And I always thought it was impossible to do that, to stay at the top for so long and have that drive.

“Now people ask me: ‘how did you do it?’ And I’m like, ‘well, it’s normal!’ You just go out there, you do it again, and you try to win, and again. And it’s fun and so you keep doing it.

“Everybody else would like to be in your shoes, right? And then you also have a duty to represent the sport well and enjoy it while it lasts.

“I really felt I squeezed out that lemon until the last drop and I tried my very best until the end. It was incredible.”

Despite his sweeping success, Federer said he managed to have fun along the way and revealed his fears that sport was becoming too professional.

“I also needed the likes of Pete Sampras to show me how it is at the top. And it’s tough, you know?” he continued.

“But I feel like I had a lot of fun on the tour. It was not just about tennis. It was also going to nice dinners with friends and I’m happy I didn’t take tennis that serious or that professional.

“I still had a bit of an amateur twist to it. I’m a bit worried that every sport is going into such a professional direction, I hope we don’t lose the fun in it. It’s important.

“There are more analytics in the game, sports science is also coming in hard. It’s OK. It’s important.

“When you see somebody doing something else that works well, you’ve got to kind of do it too, or at least try it. I did some of it for other players, for a lot of them. And now others are showing how it’s done.

“And of course we’re living in a very statistic-based world. We love our statistics, and we love breaking records, and who’s the greatest, and all that stuff.

“So you come out, you’ve just won a Grand Slam, or you’re just world No. 1 and the first question is ‘so how long do you want to stay world No. 1?’ Or ‘when are you going to win the next Grand Slam?’ Or ‘what’s your next win?’ Instead of actually enjoying it. It’s a bit of a problem I think.”

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