FED UP
Roger Federer’s wife breaks down in tears and admits she misses him playing tennis in emotive scenes in new documentary
Federer also revealed giving up tennis felt like he was 'grieving'
ROGER FEDERER’S wife breaks down in tears as she admits she misses watching him play tennis at the highest level.
A new Prime Video documentary charts the final 12 days of Federer’s illustrious career in September 2022 when he retired from competitive tennis.
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A camera crew followed the 20-time Grand Slam champion behind-the-scenes as he said goodbye to the sport at the Laver Cup at the O2 Arena in London.
Wife Mirka, whom Federer married in April 2009, gives a rare yet emotional public appearance in the documentary as the eight-time Wimbledon champion put away his racquet for good.
In a tearful interview, Mirka, 46, said: “I will miss seeing him play tennis.
“Just because he plays so gracefully and so incredible. I think people will miss the same.
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“I’m just so happy to live with him and be with him. I’m going to always be there for him. Yeah, so excited that I found him in my life.”
Former professional tennis player Mirka, who first met Federer while representing Switzerland at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, added: “I think I am a little bit happy/sad.
“It’s been an incredible journey, which went by really, really fast. We had the best time together on Tour. I will be there to support Roger.”
Having failed to recover properly from knee surgery, Federer told the world on September 15 via his Instagram channel that he would be quitting the sport.
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The film, entitled ‘FEDERER: TWELVE FINAL DAYS’, was originally meant to be a home video project and not for public consumption.
Yet filmmakers Asif Kapadia – director of acclaimed documentaries about Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Diego Maradona – and Joe Sabia have worked their magic on the raw material.
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And the final product will be available exclusively to watch on Prime Video from Thursday June 20.
Poignantly, it captures the intimate moment when the Federer family, which includes his parents, gathered together to watch his social media video as the post went viral.
His close pal and great rival Rafa Nadal was told in advance of the announcement.
So, too, was Anna Wintour, the longtime Editor-in-Chief of American Vogue, who said she struggled to sleep the night before it went global.
Federer’s last singles match was at Wimbledon 2021 – he was humbled 6-3 7-6 6-0 on Centre Court in the quarter-finals by Hubert Hurkacz – before he underwent further knee surgery.
Federer, 42, ended up playing doubles with Nadal, 38, at the Laver Cup for Team Europe but the pair were defeated 4-6 7-6 11-9 by Team World members Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
There was not a dry eye in the house as the Swiss maestro finished his professional career.
Federer – whose 10-year-old twin boys are Arsenal fans – said: “Telling the kids in the room about my retirement was hard. Three of the kids cried. Mirka cried.
“It was obviously very emotional. It’s only afterwards where I started to realise how much Mirka had been suffering.
“I don’t remember her begging me to stop but, of course, she was asking the question: ‘Why are we still doing this?’
“I know my parents also didn’t like it to see their son going through that at Wimbledon [in 2021]. They know how I am feeling.
“They know there is basically no chance I can win the tournament – things can only get worse.
“Now, since we know that the knee is not allowing me to play anymore, I could feel how relieved they actually were.
“I will miss the game of tennis. I guess you could almost call it a bit of grieving.
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“It has been a great life school for me. I have always been very grateful to everything it taught me.
“But as professional athletes, we all know we are on borrowed time. It can be hard to deal with that, you know.”
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