{"id":4277,"date":"2022-09-23T06:06:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T06:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/federer-plans-a-party-not-a-wake-as-he-prepares-to-lay-his-professional-career-to-rest\/"},"modified":"2022-09-23T06:06:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T06:06:08","slug":"federer-plans-a-party-not-a-wake-as-he-prepares-to-lay-his-professional-career-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=4277","title":{"rendered":"Federer plans a party not a wake as he prepares to lay his professional career to rest"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nAs Roger Federer prepares to say farewell to competitive tennis on Friday, teaming up with his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, for one last doubles match, his millions of adoring fans around the world are bracing themselves for what is sure to be an emotional weekend.<\/p>\n

\nFederer\u2019s legendary, 24-year career will come to an end at the Laver Cup, where the Swiss maestro is part of Team Europe along with the other members of the so-called tennis Big Four: Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.<\/p>\n

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\nThe line-up is set for Day 1 of #LaverCup<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/HnulRs01KX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 22, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\nThey will take on Team World at London\u2019s O2 Arena, which witnessed numerous battles between the formidable European quartet during the years it served as host venue for the season-ending ATP Finals.<\/p>\n

\nLondon is also where Federer claimed 11 percent of his career victories, lifted the Wimbledon trophy eight times, and clinched two of his six ATP Finals titles.<\/p>\n

\nAs such, it is one of many places around the globe that have played a significant part in Federer\u2019s storied career, during which he gained unrivaled popularity that made it seem like he had home-court advantage wherever he competed.<\/p>\n

\nAs we reflect on that career, it is impossible to ignore Federer\u2019s connection to the Middle East, especially Dubai, which for nearly 15 years was considered his second home.<\/p>\n

\nHe first competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open in Doha in 2002. After a visit to the UAE in 2004 he decided to buy an apartment there and use it as a second base for training at various points during the tennis season.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOn the way back from Bangkok, when I beat (Andy) Roddick in the finals there, I came through Dubai, met up with Tony Roche for a practice session, sort of an undercover operation,\u201d Federer once said of that 2004 trip.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI remember it was brutally hot, I think like 39 degrees every day. I had a good time practicing. It was peace and quiet and I kind of enjoyed it here. I think I came back one more time for a vacation and practiced some more. I was like, I think this works well for practice and leisure.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe next thing I knew, I had an apartment. It all happened quite quickly. It was funny how it all worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBetween 2002 and 2019, Federer competed in the Dubai Tennis Championships 14 times. He retires with a 53-6 win-loss record there, and lifted the trophy eight times. It is one of four tournaments he has won eight or more times, the others being the Halle Open (10), the Swiss Indoors (10) and Wimbledon (eight).<\/p>\n

\nWhile Federer has played to sell-out crowds at stadiums the world over and enjoyed a tremendous amount of support from fans at each and every venue, his supporters in Dubai treated him like a local hero because essentially that is what he was. The annual tennis tournament there became one of the most-attended sporting events on the emirate\u2019s busy calendar in large part because of him.<\/p>\n

\nA video recently shared by the Tennis Channel showed a match in Dubai between Tomas Berdych and Borna Coric that was temporarily halted early in the first set because of a noisy commotion coming from outside the stadium. The reason? Federer had arrived and was being mobbed by screaming fans looking for autographs and photos taken with him.<\/p>\n

\nFederer\u2019s last appearance at the Dubai tournament, in 2019, recorded its own slice of tennis history when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final to claim the 100th title of his career.<\/p>\n

\nIn some ways it was a \u201cfull-circle\u201d moment as it came 17 years after Federer first competed in the emirate, a debut in which he was accused of tanking by the tournament director, who tried to withhold his prize money.<\/p>\n

\nReflecting on that 2002 controversy after his victory in 2019, Federer said: \u201cTanking second round? I played frustrated the last couple of games in the match against Rainer Schuettler because I was young and crazy. I was so fed up with my game. I just started to go for big shots.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe tournament director wasn\u2019t happy with what he saw. Anyway, he withheld everything but the tour said, \u2018No chance you can do this. Roger tried, so it\u2019s all good.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThen I came back the next year, wanted to prove a point. I ended up going for four in a row, so \u2026 that\u2019s what happens sometimes. You have to learn it the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIt wasn\u2019t long before Federer became a serial winner not only in Dubai but on all of the sport\u2019s grandest stages.<\/p>\n

\nAlong the way he would stop off in the UAE for preseason training and would even practice there in the summer, sometimes, to build endurance and stamina in the extreme heat.<\/p>\n

\nHe was regularly spotted on the courts at Al-Qasr or Meydan. He frequented popular restaurants such as Tasha\u2019s or Flamingo Room. He even invited young players to train with him from time to time. Soon, other players started to follow his lead and use Dubai as a training base.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMaybe I set the trend a little bit,\u201d Federer said in 2015. \u201cI\u2019m very happy I took that decision and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s helped me, in the process, to be mentally more sane as well on the tour. Knowing I have a place to come back to, I can leave my bags, I come home and feel like, maybe I\u2019m not in Switzerland but it still feels a little bit like home. It\u2019s been good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nFederer\u2019s most striking moment in Dubai did not come during competition. Instead, it took place in 2005 when he played tennis with Andre Agassi on a court laid out on the helipad of the seven-star Burj Al-Arab hotel, 690 feet above the ground. Video footage of the spectacle, which was organized to promote the Dubai Tennis Championships, is arguably among the most watched in all of sports. Organizers claim it has been viewed more than three billion times.<\/p>\n

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