His back, a chronic but manageable concern for years, has been troubling him again, but Roger Federer is in Melbourne with every intent of returning to the court and playing in his 49th consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
The record, held by the former South African player Wayne Ferreira,
stands at 56. But Federer is a serial record breaker and, now third on
this all-time list, just might break another one.
In an era when major injuries have caused most of his rivals to crack at
some stage, he has kept the damage to a minimum, thanks to his silken
footwork, sound stroke mechanics, sage scheduling and ability to respond
quickly to the warning signs. Latest example: deciding to retire from a
minor event last week in Doha after the quarterfinals rather than
imperil his ability to play in the main event next week, the Australian
Open.
He also long ago conquered a fear of flying. “I was scared when I was
younger, and I used to get very sick on the plane,” he said in a
preseason interview. “Today that’s all gone.”
But according to Federer, who will turn 31 this year and who ended 2011
on a reaffirming winning streak, the biggest reason for his durability
and enduring appetite for top-flight tennis is his support team, above
all his wife, Mirka.
In that sense, Mirka has long been the most important woman in the men’s
game. Born Miroslava Vavrinec in 1978 in what is now Slovakia, she
emigrated to Switzerland as a toddler with her parents. The Swiss press
reported that she received early encouragement from Martina Navratilova,
and then became a professional tennis player, peaking at No.76 before a
foot problem forced her to retire in 2002.
She and Federer have been together since the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney, when he was just a teenager with great potential but not yet a
great résumé. Mirka later helped formally manage his career, travel and
media commitments, typing by his side on her smart phone as he gave
interviews. She has ceded that role in recent years as Federer has
expanded his staff and portfolio, but that does not mean she is outside
the loop on scheduling, sponsorship, Federer’s clothing and product
lines, and even some pure tennis issues, although she now rarely watches
matches not involving her husband.
“She still plays a huge role and has great input and impact,” said Paul
Annacone, Federer’s co-coach. “She understands the big picture extremely
well and does a great job in terms of letting us work but also shares
invaluable information. This is a tricky balance. She’s been there since
day one, so she knows very well what it takes and how to get there.”
Since the birth of the Federers’ twin daughters in 2009, Mirka has taken
the family (and the nanny) on the road, rarely missing a trip or
tournament. Without that support, Federer said, he doubts he would still
be interested in chasing down trophies worldwide from January to
November.
“I know how fortunate I am,” he said. “And maybe that’s one of the
reasons that makes me very happy when I’m playing and makes me very
motivated, because I know this is not a normal situation I’m in, being
able to play with a healthy, happy family next to me, because the
easiest thing would be to say, ‘Let’s just stay home and take care of
the kids.”’
“But the kids are healthy, they are happy, and Mirka doesn’t want to be
away from me, and I don’t want to be away from her,” he added, “and like
this we make it all work that we are actually together all year long,
and maybe miss the girls and Mirka maybe one or two weeks during the
year, which is just incredible that she’s willing to make all of that
effort. I’m happy that it’s this way, because anything else would make
it more difficult to compete and to play at the highest levels. It would
basically be impossible.”
Federer is hardly the first tennis star to travel with family in tow.
Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Ivan Ljubicic all juggled fatherhood
and the nomadic life on tour. Kim Clijsters has won three Grand Slam
singles titles as a mother. But at the moment, the only other father
among the top 20 is Gilles Simon, No.12 this week.
What separates
Federer from the crowd is that he already has secured his fortune and
legacy — a record 16 Grand Slam singles titles — yet has shown no hint
of losing his appetite for the game or the road, which is certainly more
palatable with a private plane and other highest-end comforts.
But there is still a toll, and it is seldom the megastar who pays the
highest price. “How important is the support from your wife? Hard to
say, but to win Grand Slams, nothing can be more important than you
winning,” said Mats Wilander, the former world No.1. “I think Roger will
win again, whether he has the support or not from his wife and family,
but yes, if your family travels with you, it’s harder on them than you.
As a player, you’re as selfish as anything and as a supporting cast you
have to be the opposite.”
The difference here perhaps is that Federer is an involved enough parent
to tolerate middle-of-the-night wake-up calls from the twins during
tournaments. The bigger difference perhaps is that Mirka was once a
player herself.
“I think it’s a great help that she actually played,” Federer said. “I
never started dating a tennis player because of that, actually, sort of
10 years ahead. But in my situation, I think it really does help,
because she knows in some ways what it takes, and she did it on a level
that was still very good but not at my level. And she already put in a
massive amount of hours herself. So when I tell her, ‘Look, I need to go
to practice,’ she’s the first to say, ‘I know, I know you need it, and
you need only maybe 20 percent of what I needed.”’
Mirka, who rarely speaks publicly, declined to be interviewed for this
article. But Federer said that her career-ending injury had shaped his
own approach to protecting himself with the help of his longtime fitness
trainer, Pierre Paganini.
“She was a big believer in me not wasting any sort of talent, because
she knew herself that she was limited to a degree,” Federer said.
“She
was extremely hardworking, but she knew with my talents I could achieve
so many more things, and she was also one that was very influential, as
was Pierre Paganini, for instance, early on, when I became world No.1
and we decided, ‘Less is more; we have to take care of the body,’
because Mirka’s body went first because she maybe over-practiced.”
“So I think she could also give me some advice, sort of know-how,”
Federer added. “Her body is still fragile today when she goes and does
sports, and mine isn’t, and it’s incredible. I’ve done so much more
sport than she has, so it’s I guess a bit of luck, too, just smartness
because of the people that have surrounded me.”
Last season was sour and ultimately sweet for Federer. He played some
tremendous, flowing tennis, stopping Novak Djokovic’s 43-match winning
streak in the French Open
semifinals, and yet slipped to No.3 and failed to win a Grand Slam
title for the first time since 2002. He also blew a two-set lead in the
quarterfinals at Wimbledon, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and blew
another two-set lead, against Djokovic, in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
Federer said Mirka had told him during his six-week break later in the
autumn that she thought he should search more deeply for explanations.
“She was very much a believer that it can’t be that I lose all these
matches so closely, that there must be something more,” Federer said.
“She was the one that says: ‘It’s O.K. to lose one or two matches very
closely, but you can’t start losing more and more and more. Then maybe
something’s wrong in your corner. So you just have to question yourself
and check with the entire team, see what everybody thinks.’ She had her
opinions, and some were, I thought, wrong, some were right.”
Federer did not elaborate, but when he returned to the circuit, he won
three straight indoor titles: Basel, Paris and the A.T.P. World Tour
Finals. That was sweet indeed, but not as sweet as it would be to return
to the Grand Slam honor roll in Melbourne.
Triumph or disaster, Mirka will be there, which is a big reason why the
triumphs are still possible.
“She’s been a rock in my corner,” he said.
nytimes.com
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