Roger Federer made an emotional tribute to his wife Mirka after he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The 45-year-old retired from tennis in 2022, but has only recently been inducted. While he formally left the sport in 2022, his last official match was 14 months before, meaning he met the criteria of needing to be five years outside the sport before induction. He was welcomed into the exclusive club during a lavish ceremony in New York.
Emotional Tribute to Mirka
It proved to be an emotional occasion for the Swiss maestro, who won 103 ATP singles titles and 20 Grand Slams. His wife Mirka, who was always visible in the players' boxes of every major, was the one to announce his induction. This was then followed by Federer's emotional speech and tribute.
After his wife's speech, Federer said: "Oh, man. She's a good public speaker. I didn't know that. Maybe, you know, the last time I heard Mirka speak publicly was probably at our mixed doubles we played at the Hopman Cup 24 years ago maybe. After one of our mixed doubles, we had to do an interview together. Maybe this is the last time she spoke publicly."
He continued: "This is very well-done. I don't know if you've been secretly practicing, but this is very high level and a tough act to following, but I'm so happy you did it. Thank you so much. Also, a shout-out to Fred Stolle, who actually did the interview, also Hall of Fame, so that was obviously special. Let me just give a shout-out to Mary as well. That was amazing. You crushed it. Incredible."
Reflections on a Legendary Career
Federer reflected on his career, sharing anecdotes about his early days and the numbers that defined his journey. "Between 1998 and when I first went on the ATP Tour and when I retired in 2022, I wore more than 5,000 headbands in my career. That's more than Borg and McEnroe combined," he said. "If you think that's impressive, I wore probably over 7,000 pairs of socks. That's probably twice as many as most of my opponents, because I doubled them up."
He also spoke about his childhood: "I'm in Basel, Switzerland, I'm 13 years old, and it's the Swiss Indoors. I'm not competing. I'm a ball boy. I'm standing against the back wall, hands behind me, eyes on the ball. I'll never forget how the game looked from there and how it felt."
Federer acknowledged the people who supported him throughout his career, including his coaches and family. "Pierre is in there. So are all my coaches. I'm talking about the phenomenal Peter Carter, super cool Peter Lundgren, two men who are unfortunately no longer with us, who not only helped my game but helped me grow up fast on the road," he said, becoming emotional.
A Love Letter to Tennis
He concluded with a heartfelt message about his enduring love for the sport: "My time as a player is done, but tennis will always stand at the intersection of everything I care most about. My family, our friendships, the past 40 years, the future we're building. Tennis for me is responsible for it all. So this is not a goodbye."
Federer's induction marks a milestone in a career that saw him become one of the sport's finest ever players. His speech, filled with gratitude and emotion, underscored the deep connections he formed throughout his journey in tennis.
