Roger Federer had received an online death threat during the Shanghai Masters with the Swiss icon shown on his knees with his head decapitated

Roger Federer had received an online death threat during the Shanghai Masters with the Swiss icon shown on his knees with his head decapitated

(L) Roger Federer - IMAGO / Imaginechina, (R) Roger Federer with bodyguards on court for his protection - IMAGO / Imaginechina

20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer said goodbye to tennis at this year’s Laver Cup drawing the curtain on his glorious 24-year-long career. Federer was lucky enough to have some of his oldest and favourite colleagues during his farewell as the entire globe paid tributes to him.

While Federer is often seen as one of the most loved players of all time, one incident in Shanghai had the whole tennis fraternity in shock. During the 2012 Shanghai Masters, Federer received an online death threat on the Chinese blogging site Baidu.com.

A user going by the name of “Blue Cat Polytheistic Religion Founder 07” posted the threat that read, “On October 6, I plan to assassinate Federer for the purpose of tennis extermination,” and had a photo attached with it which showed an axe-wielding executioner standing next to a decapitated Federer.

Roger Federer had brushed off the threat calling it a “distraction”

Roger Federer surrounded by extra security at the 2012 Shanghai Masters - IMAGO / ZUMA Press
Roger Federer surrounded by extra security at the 2012 Shanghai Masters – IMAGO / ZUMA Press

The threat had been given before the Shanghai Masters began as the tournament was played from the 8th to the 14th of October. Federer was then usually accompanied by his wife and twin daughters but for this particular event, only Roger travelled alone. He later clarified that the threat was not the reason for the absence of his family.

The security around Federer remained tight throughout the tournament as the Swiss maestro made his way to the semi-finals before losing to 2-time defending champion and eventual runner-up Andy Murray. Murray’s 12-0 streak in Shanghai was broken by Novak Djokovic.

The threat saga for Federer did not however end with just one post. Following the tightened security, the user once again put a post saying that he was yet to be arrested. “I have not been arrested, I took the initiative to contact the relevant people to apologise,” read the second post.

Speaking about the whole incident, Federer had said, “Obviously maybe it’s a little bit of a distraction, there’s no doubt about it. It was something just very small on a website, nothing clear and concrete, people just debating.”

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