Roger Federer: From Tennis Great to Hall of Fame
Roger Federer never quite understood the tears at first.
Wimbledon, 2001. Centre Court. A 19-year-old with a ponytail has just taken down Pete Sampras, the king of the grass, on his own stage. Federer drops to his knees, then walks to the net to shake hands with his hero. And suddenly, the emotions crash in.
"I go to my knees, (then) I shake hands with Pete and he's my hero … and these emotions came all over me," he told CNN Sport. "And I was like, 'What is going on?' This is not who I am normally."
From that afternoon until his choked-up goodbye in London in 2022, Federer built one of the greatest careers tennis has ever seen – and became, almost accidentally, one of sport’s most famous criers.
Now, in Newport, Rhode Island, the tears may be back.
A career that always led here
This weekend, the Swiss is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a destination that has felt inevitable for two decades. The plaque might be new, but the résumé has long been complete.
He knows what awaits him on that stage.
"If I'm speaking about the game and all the gratitude that I have, and having my entire family there – from my parents to my wife to my four children and my whole team from coaching staff and physios, etc. I think it could hit home very hard," he said in the hours before the ceremony.
"If it happens, it will be more memorable for me personally, but I hope I get through the speech without too many hiccups. We'll see."
For his followers, this is less a surprise than a coronation. Since 2004, when he won three of the four grand slam singles titles and climbed to world No. 1, his path has felt pre-written. He stayed at the top for 237 consecutive weeks – a number that still stands as a monument to dominance.
In 2005, he won more than 95% of his matches. Then came 2006, the season that still glows brightest: three more majors, 12 titles overall, a 92-5 record, and a scarcely believable 94.8% win rate.
Few believed Sampras’ 14 grand slam singles titles would ever be touched. Federer swept past that mark on the lawns of Wimbledon in 2009 and kept going. The numbers stacked up. The style stayed the same.
The price behind the elegance
Federer insists he has no real regrets. If anything, he bristles only at the idea that it all came too easily.
"It looked like I wasn't actually hitting the ball so hard," he recalled of his junior days. "But it was kind of flying off of my racket with a lot of power. People always thought, like, 'It's so simple for you,' because it looked like elastic. But it wasn't the case. There was a lot of work and effort put into it.
"When I would lose, they say, 'Why don't you try harder?' And when you win, they would say, 'Oh my God, it's so easy for you!'"
Inside that contradiction lies a clue to the emotion that so often spilled out after his biggest matches.
"The sacrifice was massive and I was holding a lot of pressure in."
The tears, then, were not a quirk. They were a release valve.
Peace after the pressure
Retirement has not left a hole. No desperate search to replace the roar of Centre Court. No urge to chase one more high.
"It doesn't sound like he misses it all that much" is an understatement. Federer sounds content.
"I'm actually really happy going through everyday life at a lower pace," he said.
Life now is full, just in a different way. Father of four. Philanthropist. Investor. Businessman. The calendar is still busy, the suitcase still used.
"I've always been a guy who loves being on the road."
The Hall of Fame weekend offers something he no longer gets on tour: time to look back. To imagine, too. Federer has enjoyed picturing himself across the net from the legends whose names now sit beside his.
"I would have a little list," he said, before reeling off the greats: Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and Sampras again. "I think these would be my favorite players to play against. I've always admired their personalities, what they have achieved, and what they represent in the game."
Legacy beyond the numbers
His once-record haul of 20 grand slam titles has been passed by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The numbers debate will run forever. His fans have already made up their minds; to them, Federer remains the greatest.
CNN asked him what he considers himself good at now, with the racquets mostly put away.
"I'm trying to get better at golf," he said. "I would love to start with an instrument again. I used to play the piano, so when I have more time, I'd like to dive into that because my four children and my wife play the piano.
"I hope I'm a good listener and a good decision-maker. Hopefully I'm a guy who people enjoy being around. I'm a big family guy. I love being surrounded by my friends – that's really the priority in my life."
On court, Federer mastered time, space and pressure. In Newport, as he steps into tennis immortality, he seems far more interested in mastering something else: the art of a quieter, slower life, lived far from the baseline but still very much on his own terms.
