Yummy daddy Roger Federer

Roger Federer's motivational quotes are legend: there is no way around hard work, embrace it; a man who wins is a man who thinks he can; I fear no one, but respect everyone.

I know nothing about tennis except its spelling – and yet Roger Federer quitting the game sent me into a Google tizzy. Reading his story, looking at his pictures, joining die-hard sports fans in lamenting the future scarcity of both his photos and victory news…

He has spoken freely of how emotional he used to be, about his first coach who died, how he met his wife at 18, and everything that calmed a hot-headed him down on court. He speaks from his heart and he looks like that.

Sigh! We all know there are more yummy mummies than we can count on this planet, but yummy daddies are few, very few. And Roger definitely is the father of all yummy dads out there.

From emotionally acknowledging his debt to his coach Peter Carter and admiring his wife Mirka who was herself a tennis player and brought to him a professional discipline he never possessed before meeting her, to all those Grand Slams, his has been a much-chronicled journey. Unlike most Indian parents who are proud of everything their son does, however suspect, Roger’s parents have publicly confessed they were ashamed of his early on-court rage.

‘24 years feel like 24 hours,’ Roger says upon retiring, leaving us with the same feeling. Have we been ogling him for two dozen years? Feels like a minute. He who made and continues to make so many women across all age groups weak in the knees has cited knee problems for his decision not to play anymore – the irony of that! We are left shaking our head and echoing Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who said, ‘I wish this day would have never come,’ when he first heard of Roger’s decision to step down.

At 41, Roger is in his prime as eye candy. That he is talented and a happily married dad only adds to his overall appeal. In his interviews and in photos of him smiling, he radiates a down to earth-ness that many celebrities in any field fail to do. The various brands that signed him on, Rolex and Uniqlo, obviously agree – on the court and off it, his net worth is infinite.

His motivational quotes are legend:

There is no way around hard work. Embrace it.

A man who wins is a man who thinks he can.

I fear no one, but respect everyone.

When you’re good at something, make that everything.

Any self-respecting T-shirt would kill to carry these words.

Gentlemen prefer blondes, someone said. The truth is that both blondes and non-blondes prefer gentlemen, and Roger is a gentleman. Is it too fan-girlish to declare that sometimes among the stars we do sight a soulmate? Is it sexist to rate male hotness? Perhaps, but a Swiss hunk of his caliber is a rarity and sometimes drooling is an involuntary side effect of having eyesight.

See you in many, many future ads, Roger!