I know a lot of very devout Roger Federer supporters and fanatics. One guy named Zahed used to actually travel the world to his tournaments, in full Federer Nike attire, but was abruptly kicked out of Indian Wells because something he said spooked the maestro. That was the year Federer lost to Marcos Baghdatis.
Another Fed fan named Rafal plays with similar flair and style of Federer himself and even has an RF logo tattoo on his shoulder. He wears Uniqlo clothing and ON shoes. I asked him for his initial reaction: “It’s sad but I sensed it was coming. I was hoping he would try just one more time…”
Another friend Shlomo once told me jokingly he would hang up all his Wilson racquets and quit tennis if he ever heard Federer was doping. Shlomo said… “Just heard about it (crying emoji). Still love the guy, the style he plays – or more correctly played. Wasn’t boring (snoring emoji).”
Michael Wan and I met at US Open about a decade ago, he’s from China and made it abundantly clear via his RF cap and affectionate words, that he was a great admirer of Federer. He now works for ESPN Disney as a project manager and today he shared his thoughts about Federer’s surprise retirement: “I wrote a Chinese poem about this this morning, it is about time for him to go, only regret is should be in a grand slam to exit.”
Federer · RF · Roger Federer
