His new life

Federer is now a “Swiftie”, diver and tourist

Roger Federer with Ana Ivanovic and Bastian Schweinsteiger at the Laver Cup.(Bild: Viennareport/(c) www.VIENNAREPORT.at)

Roger Federer looked dazzling in his tuxedo. As ambassador of the Laver Cup in Berlin, he took pictures with other tennis legends such as Boris Becker and Andre Agassi, but also with soccer world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger and his wife Ana Ivanovic. And above all, the Swiss player talked about his new life in the German capital.

The father of four said with shining eyes: "I've started diving, I have a lot of time to go on really cool trips with my family and I travel a lot." Vacations in Vietnam and Thailand were a highlight. The 20-time Grand Slam winner also wants to use the few days in Berlin for a bit of sightseeing: "I definitely have to tick off a few tourist points."

"Enthusiastic Swiftie - not least because of my children"
The eight-time Wimbledon winner's love of the grass is still there: "I've started playing golf. My children have also started, my children too." The 43-year-old also loves concerts. This year he went to see Taylor Swift in Zurich. He swayed to Swift's music with his mother, his wife Mirka Federer, daughters Myla and Charlene, and sons Leo and Lenny, and said after meeting the pop superstar in person: "I've been an avid Swiftie for a long time - not least because of my children." This year in Rome, Federer also attended a concert by Coldplay, with whom he even sang on stage in Zurich last year.

Roger Federer also met Boris Becker in Berlin.(Bild: Viennareport/(c) www.VIENNAREPORT.at)

Federer played his last match at the Laver Cup in 2022. The tingling sensation remains: "It still feels like I ended my career five seconds ago. When I'm standing here on the court, I'd love to pick up the racket straight away and start playing," said the fan favorite and reminisced: "I'm having a lot of flashbacks right now."

"He was a real child's head in the changing room"
Julian Knowle and Alex Peya also provide Federer flashbacks. The former remembers: "On the court he was out of this world, his emotions after the matches made him human. In the changing room he was a real child's head, cracking one joke after another. But when the door opened, he showed impressive professionalism."

"It helped us to call Roger Hans"
Knowle's personal favorite anecdote dates back to 2014: "I played the doubles final against Roger Federer and his Swiss Davis Cup colleague Marco Chiudinelli at the grass court tournament with my partner at the time, Andre Begemann. We had huge respect for Roger, who played incredibly well. We lost the first set 1:6 after 15 minutes. We were completely overwhelmed by the situation. We then decided to call Roger Hans from then on. That helped us to lose our respect. We reached our full potential and actually won 1:6, 7:5, 12/10."

"Stylistically the best player of all time"
Peya explains: "Roger is only one year younger than me. We played a lot of cards together in our U14 days. He shaped my tennis generation like no other. Federer is by far the best tennis player there has ever been in terms of style. Hardly anyone else will come along who can make this game look so relaxed. You often thought he wasn't even really sweating in the fifth set."