Roger Federer, a family man at home, becomes a different person altogether in the locker room. While his Amazon Prime docuseries fuelled the whole tennis fraternity’s nostalgia about his retirement days, his locker-room personality intrigued many, raising questions about whether those stories are myths. Adding more to that, the renowned tennis commentator reveals Federer’s “goofy” personality while delving into his wish to become one “who is great as God.”
Tennis Channel’s X platform shared a clip where famous tennis commentator Adnan Virk revealed an interesting side of Roger Federer’s personality in the locker room. When host Mitch Michals commented on how different Federer is from his colleagues in the locker room, Virk said, “Oh, 100 percent. There is one more way to describe Federer, it’s goofy. While he loves his text messages with emojis, he loves like the crack jokes to the guys. You can totally paint a picture. He likes to be the guy you said, he likes to crack jokes, he likes to hit balls, he likes to win, he likes to be better than them like anybody who is great as God.”
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This renowned sports journalist highlighted Federer’s humble and fun-spirited personality, describing how naturally and spontaneously Federer aimed to be better than his colleagues in the locker room. Virk further said, “As much as he’s suave and dignified, and the James Bond of tennis… just cracking jokes with the boys, he loves that stuff.” Virk’s comment helped to understand that, despite being hailed as a legend of the sport, Roger Federer maintained an ordinary boy-scout image in the locker room, showing a sense of simplicity.
Not only Virk but tennis broadcaster David Law also took a dig at Federer’s personality in the locker room while he was still learning to adjust to the pace of professional tennis. Calling him “silly”, Law stated that Federer “was a teenager, he was into music, he was into stupid computer games.” David Law also said about the Swiss former tennis legend, “In the locker room and the showers he’d be screaming at the top of his voice doing impersonations of other players. Or characters that he might have seen in the World Wrestling Federation.”
Well, Federer himself also quite loved his locker room. In 2023 October, when he received the Icon Athlete Award at the ATP 1000 Tournament in China, he also visited his old locker room. “I heard that Alcaraz was staying in my locker room this year. But, as he is not around anymore, I got it back, so I am sorry for him. But I am happy to have my own locker room again,” Federer said.
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However, apart from Adnan Virk, many of Federer’s opponents and locker-room partners have spoken about this interesting side of Roger Federer’s character.
Roger Federer’s colleagues share his quirky locker-room personality
Federer’s colleague Casper Ruud once surprised all revealing an unseen side of Federer’s locker room personality. This was published by BNP Paribas’ We are Tennis in 2022. Calling the Swiss former tennis maestro “the loudest and the funniest of all in the locker-room”, Ruud mentioned how Federer “sort of has all these nicknames on all the players.” Ruud further explained, “He calls Bjorn (Borg) The King. So, every time he sees Bjorn he calls him The King in Swedish because he’s Swedish. That’s always fun to hear. He has many jokes.”
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Not just Ruud and Virk, former Czech ATP star Tomas Berdych once said about Federer, “If you met him in the dressing room or somewhere else backstage, you wouldn’t know what he is. On the contrary, he had moments when he acted like a boy and did stupid things.”
Nevertheless, Roger Federer’s locker-room personality revealed the secret behind his energetic performances on the court. His fun mentality must have helped him deal with stress and focus on achieving more in his career.
Not Just Being the James Bond of Tennis but Roger Federer Has More to His Persona Than What Meets the Eye, Claims Sports Insider
