An open letter to Roger Federer

Roger Federer during the men's singles quarterfinals against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz on day nine of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, on July 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Dear Roger,

I have followed your career very closely over 20 years, professionally and as a tennis fan, in person and on television. Hence, taking the liberty of writing a well-meaning note.

Based on your press conference after your defeat at Wimbledon, it seems you are not retiring yet. That’s good. If you’ve taken the trouble of undergoing surgery, training and putting in matches, might as well play some more.

But there is not that much time left. So you have to first ask yourself the questions: Do I really want to do this? Am I willing to sign myself up for a few more months of intense physical and mental training? (Yes, the mental part is important.)

If yes, some things need to be put in place.

1. Think about a no-nonsense coach like Ivan Lendl. You need people in your team who will be brutally honest with you, kick butt if need be. We don’t know if your current team does it or doesn’t. If they don’t, encourage them to do it. Once every week, or month, ask them, “What am I doing wrong? With shots, fitness, body language, strategy, attitude. Whatever.”

2. Get your box to be more animated: Your fans live and die with every point during your matches. Your crew, sorry to say, sits with a frown on their faces, occasionally getting up and clapping perfunctorily, like employees at a dull office event. They may be good at other parts of their job, but they need to be more engaged and vocal in the box, especially when you are struggling. Else hire one of India’s comedy talk show hosts, who can clap and holler for hours. Or get Jurgen Klopp. Or India's chirpy cricketer Rishabh Pant.

3. Step off the high horse. For years you have been put on a pedestal by people. You earned it. Indeed, you are one of the greatest players ever, and the most elegant and the most popular. But what is your priority now? Past laurels and more fawning? Or to win one last major, preferably beating your biggest rivals along the way? So forget about the status and its circus for a while. Imagine you are starting out, stay in simple digs, carry your own bags and hunker down for one last charge. Remember Andre Agassi, after he slumped, played Challengers in the middle of nowhere where players played without ballboys.

4. Work on the mind to not let winning positions slip, and to deal better with sudden dips in form. The most inexplicable part of your game is watching you take leads, sometimes hold match points even, and then suffer lapses of logic and confidence. Happens. But how do you deal with those phases? Do you steel yourself, pick yourself up and play calm and sensible tennis? Or do you let them drag you down, drop your head and make a profusion of errors with anxious high-risk play? It seems to be the latter. Mental conditioning and its related processes, such as talk therapy and breathing exercises, might help.

5. A brief extension of the above point. Body language, body language, body language.

6. Related to point 3, play the percentages sometimes. In the second set against Hubert Hurkacz, to give just one example, you had a chance to go up a double break. You could have made him earn his hold by keeping the ball in play. Especially as the conditions were windy. Instead, you went for low percentage shots yourself, made errors and made things easy for him. The same happened on some points of the tiebreaker.

7. Think about different racquets for different conditions. The switch to a bigger racquet helped you revive your career and turn a corner against Rafael Nadal. Now your challenges are different. Will a smaller frame help you on certain courts and against certain opponents? Players have experimented with racquets before. Bjorn Borg would play Bancroft in the USA and Donnay in Europe for a while, although that was for contractual reasons. But it was still different racquets. Ivan Lendl played with a bigger racquet at Wimbledon one year and went back to a smaller one. At this point in your career, there is a lot to gain and not much to lose. So try everything. But you need to be humble, brave and keep an open mind.

8. Be gracious to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. It is true that you have complimented Nadal and Djokovic before. But not always as unconditionally as they have praised you. As a result there is an extra complication in the dynamic, which all of you can do without. Yes, the nastiness in some supporters, camps and the press makes it difficult to remain objective. But graciously acknowledging the spectacular feats and abilities of rivals is not rocket science. And you are going to be better off for it, freer and happier, on court as well as off.

9. If it still doesn’t happen, don’t beat yourself up: You are far too accomplished and special a champion for that.