﻿How Roger Federer Met His Wife .
. In today’s video,
we will be diving into the love history between Roger Federer and his wife. While a lot is known
about Roger Federer and his achievements on the court, little or nothing is known about
his private life. Watch till the end, there’s an interesting trivia at the end of the video.
Without further delay, let’s get right into it… Love Story Of The Century
It is said that behind every successful man is a strong woman and the same is true in the case
of Roger Federer. Unknown to many, Federer has had his wife, Mirka Federer, right beside him,
accompanying him to almost all the tournaments he plays in and also working assiduously in
the background to contribute in, no small measure, to the brilliance in his career.
Mirka Federer, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1987. When she was 2-years-old,
her family migrated to Switzerland. Like Roger, Mirka was a tennis player who started playing
after watching her idol, Martina Navratilova. Mirka was an exceptional player who won 3 ITF
titles in the singles category and 1 ITF title in the doubles category
in her short career. Interestingly, she played all the majors between 1999 to 2001.
Roger Federer, who is a 20-time grand slam champion, and Mirka, both turned pro in 1998
but she could only play for four years as her career came to an end in 2002 as recurrent
injuries forced her to keep her racket. However, she continued to pursue her love
for tennis through Roger Federer by helping and supporting him throughout his career.
She handles and protects his business interests and she doubles as his PR manager.
According to a former coach of Roger Federer, Paul Annacone, “no one knows Federer’s (Roger) tennis
better than her (Mirka).” Their First Meeting
Roger and Mirka first met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where they were paired in the mixed
doubles event. Initially shy to approach Mirka, then 22 years old, Roger, then 18 years of age,
was helped by wrestlers who were representing Switzerland at the Games and some two weeks later,
he and Mirka had shared their first kiss. Roger recalls the moments leading to their first
kiss. In his words, “We were both playing for Switzerland in tennis and then we spent two weeks
together in those dorms. We were together with the wrestlers and all the other cool athletes. I guess
over the two weeks, we built up some chemistry.” One of the wrestlers told Roger to kiss Mirka,
but he wasn’t so sure. Eventually, after the wrestler egged him on,
he went for it — but even though they kissed, Mirka thought Roger was too young.
“She told me I was so young when she kissed me. I tried to tell her I was
almost 18-and-a-half. I tried to sneak in a quarter year,” Roger Federer said in 2019.
Away from public glare, their relationship continued to blossom but in 2002 at the Hopman
Cup, Perth, Australia, their relationship became public as they teamed up again for
a mixed doubles match. The Difficulties
Life is not a bed of roses and even if it were, roses come with thorns. For the Federers,
their lives, however sweet it was, had come with several challenges as every human being faces.
Roger said in 2020 while speaking with Sunday Times that it would have
been likely that he and Mirka divorced had she not retired from tennis when she did,
because they never would have been able to see each other. The duo love being together so much,
that Roger even told the publication he won’t sleep unless Mirka is beside him.
Though Roger Federer cited a knee injury as the reason for pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics 2020,
at the French Open later, he opened up about the difficulty of leaving his wife and children at
home due to COVID-19, and how that could impact his decision to attend Tokyo 2020. He said at
the French Open, prior to his withdrawal, that the bubble — which put players in quarantine and only
allowed them to go out for an hour walk a day —was not a problem for him personally, but bringing
kids into the mix would make it difficult. At the same time, Roger said it could be difficult
for Mirka to stay at home with the kids for the French Open, and later Wimbledon and potentially
Tokyo 2020. “Having four kids in a bubble isn’t really going to work out for me, so we have this
situation here and we’ll have it again at Wimbledon, and maybe also at the Olympics,”
he said. Roger wanted to see how the family coped with Wimbledon before making his decision, though
he said that from what he had heard, everything was going okay so far. “She’s got things under
control and the kids are not completely misbehaved yet, and I’m not worried here.”
It was a trying moment for the couple when Mirka couldn’t heal completely from the injuries she
sustained while playing tennis. In such a trying moment, Roger spurred her to give up her fight
over the recurrent injuries and she not only took his advice, she went further to support him in his
career wholeheartedly. In Roger’s own words, “I said to her: Don‘t you maybe want to stop?.
Then I won Wimbledon, she just put her career aside and said: This is
more important for me. We can build something fantastic together. Mirka invested everything.
She had bad surgeries and didn‘t return well from rehab. She always had problems with her
heels and never truly recovered from it.” While falling in love with Mirka was not a
problem for Roger Federer, approaching her was a huge problem for him. His shy nature
almost became an impediment to the beautiful love story the duo now live. A friend of Roger Federer
and wrestling coach, Ludwin Kung, has revealed the story of how shy the tennis master was to approach
Mirka during their meeting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He revealed, in an interview with Blick,
a Switzerland-based site, that Federer needed help approaching his future wife. “We knew Roger
was into Mirka and then we helped him a little bit,” he told Swiss site Blick, according to
Essentially Sport. Kung said the pair spent 15 minutes together before they emerged laughing.
“From then on, they were a couple,” Kung added. The struggle continued when they hit a snag
in their plans to build a $92 million mansion on the shores of Lake Zurich.
The tennis golden couple were building a stunning new family home in Rappersil-Jona,
a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in Switzerland. The Federers had been hoping to move
in by the end of 2021 but have since encountered a number of setbacks. Reports in Swiss-based media
outlets had reported a stoppage in construction because of contaminated land near the lakeshore.
The Wedding It was game, set,
match when the duo got married in April 2009, after nine years of dating and a few weeks
of announcing Mirka’s first pregnancy. Today, they have four children together - Myla Rose,
Charlene Riva, Leo and Lenny. Fun Fact
As a teenager, before he turned pro, Federer told his dentist that he had dropped out of school to
pursue tennis full-time. His dentist, in good conservative Swiss style, scoffed at the idea.
You know what Federer’s response was? He got a new dentist! He may be an unassuming person,
and he may have been a somewhat lazy athlete when he was younger, but he always harboured
global-sized ambitions. Federer speaks half the languages of Europe, but that early willingness
to take a risk on himself is fascinating. He also understands the value of surrounding himself with
people who wouldn’t make him doubt his goals or his ability to achieve them.
What is your favourite part about Federer’s love story? Comment Below!