Federer Enters Tennis Hall of Fame, Djokovic Pays Tribute
Roger Federer was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport and fought back tears during his speech about his career and family. Novak Djokovic told him: no one deserves this more than you.
Roger Federer stood on stage in Newport, microphone in hand, and could barely get through a sentence without his voice cracking. He paused several times, looked out at the crowd, searched for his breath. The man who spent decades on court looking like nothing could rattle him stood in front of his peers, fighting back tears.
It was Saturday, August 29, when Roger Federer was formally inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in the US state of Rhode Island. The ceremony began at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, a day before the US Open got underway in New York.
“This is one of the greatest honors of my life. They call it the Hall of Fame, but fame was never the goal. My goal was to spend my life doing something I love, with people who love it as much as I do,” Federer said in his speech.
Behind that sentence is a career that is hard to sum up in a few numbers, but the numbers still tell the story. Eight Wimbledon titles, six Australian Opens, five US Opens and one French Open, 20 Grand Slam titles in total. On top of that, 103 titles on the professional tour and 310 weeks at number one on the ATP rankings. He retired in 2022.
In his speech, Federer also looked back to where it all started, to the 13 year old boy in Basel who used to collect balls off the court and watch the top players in awe. He thanked his coaches, his doctors, his family and his wife Mirka, and singled out the generations of rivals he shared a court with, from Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“This isn’t goodbye. I’m still writing my love letter to tennis,” he said.
It was Novak Djokovic himself who sent a message after the speech, posted on social media.
“Roger, congratulations on your induction into the Hall of Fame. We all knew this day would come sooner or later. No one deserves this more than you. For everything you’ve achieved, for what you represented and still represent for our sport and for tennis. It’s something extraordinary and incredible. Thank you for being such a great ambassador for our sport. I hope you have a wonderful day with your family and celebrate your incredible career,” Djokovic wrote.
Federer and Djokovic are rivals who played some of the greatest matches in the history of the sport, but they have also been tied together by friendship off the court for decades. That was clear just days before the Newport ceremony, when Federer was asked at a press conference whether it bothered him that Djokovic is now called the greatest tennis player of all time.
“That’s fine. He’s done incredible things, it’s actually fantastic what he’s managed to do and is still doing now. I thought there would come a point where he’d have a much bigger decline, but last year he played four Grand Slam semifinals and this year he’s kept up the same level. It’s fascinating how he stays in shape and keeps himself fit, playing less and less, and yet he still manages to go through. An incredible player, he’s established himself not just as a hard court player, which he’s known for, but also on grass and on clay. He’s made so much progress over his career, he managed to iron out the weaknesses he had in his game, and it’s remarkable what he’s done,” Federer said, at no point disputing that Djokovic now holds the title of the best player in the world.
At the end of his speech in Newport, Federer had a message for young players too: don’t just try to repeat what others have already done, push the boundaries of the sport you love instead. For him, the Hall of Fame was as much a look forward as it was a look back.
The ceremony was held a day before the start of the US Open in New York, the last Grand Slam of the season, where it will become clear how much longer Djokovic, now with 24 Grand Slam titles, can hold on to the top spot Federer, by his own account, stepped down from four years ago.
It’s rare to see a man who spent decades on court as a byword for composure struggle to get a sentence out. That was exactly what made the Newport ceremony feel more genuine than most, and one more reason Federer’s speech will be remembered longer than the induction itself.
