Roger Federer recalls his decision to stop his education to pursue and how he convinced his parents for it

Roger Federer reveals that he made a 'deal' with his parents to give tennis a realistic shot.

Roger Federer recalls his decision to stop his education to pursue and how he convinced his parents for it

Roger Federer (Source: Eurosport)

In his recent interview with GQ, tennis legend Roger Federer recalled the time when he took the decision to stop his education to focus on tennis. The Swiss international revealed that he figured out that he was pretty good at tennis at a fairly young age and it was difficult to manage both lives as a teenager. 

It is a well-known fact that Roger Federer started playing tennis at a very young age. He joined a tennis club when he was just eight years old, at his own request. “At the beginning of my career I received feedback pretty quickly that I was actually quite good at what I was doing. At the beginning, it is of course difficult to assess this and you hardly dare to really believe it. And as soon as you slowly become a little more self-confident and think, hmm, maybe I’m really good, you’ll get punched in the nose, you can be sure of that (laughs)”, he said. 

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He revealed that it was very difficult at that age to handle both studies and tennis as a teenager. Moreover, when he was just 14, Roger left his house to join a performance center. The 20-time Grand Slam winner claims that he spent the two most important years of his life there. He also talked about how he convinced his parents to choose tennis over his studies.

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“Those were probably the two most important years of my life. I learned so much about life. At the age of 16 I decided to stop school. I tried online classes for a few months, but then realized pretty quickly that both were not possible and that I had to put everything on one card. I had a deal with my parents to give tennis a realistic chance and, if it didn’t work out, to go back to school straight away and without complaining,” Federer added. 

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Roger Federer reveals what it takes to become a professional today 

Roger Federer opined that in today’s world, it is extremely important for a player to have a team of coaches to ace at a sport, besides obviously having tremendous willpower and passion for the sport. 

Roger Federer (Source: IMAGO)
Roger Federer (Source: IMAGO)

The Swiss international said that a player needs to keep changing his team of coaches at different points in his life, depending on his needs. For example, when he is a kid, a player needs a coach to give him the required motivation to even go on the court and when he is a teenager, he needs a coach who can handle his reckless youthful nature and discipline him. 

Roger added that he thinks many players are not being able to fulfill their potential just because they are not being able to stick to the tiresome path to glory as athletes.

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