Roger Federer was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame after a career defined by 20 Grand Slam singles titles, 103 ATP titles and a record 310 weeks as the world’s No. 1-ranked player.
Federer grew up in Switzerland and served as a ball boy at the Swiss Indoor championships when he was 13. Although he had loved tennis long before then, he said he would always view the sport through the eyes of that young ball boy.
“I’ll never forget how the game looked from there and how it felt,” he said. “Standing so close to the players, feeding them the ball, handing them a towel, seeing them sweat, watching them fight it out, figure it out, the adversity, the intensity.”
Introduced by his wife, Mirka, Federer was celebrated by an overflow crowd at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Mirka recalled meeting him at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when he had not yet won an ATP title.
“So, I’ve been there for all 103,” she said.
Federer is one of nine men to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. He is one of only four players to achieve that feat on hardcourt, grass and clay.
He is also the only player to win three different Grand Slam tournaments at least five times: the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Federer won Wimbledon every year from 2003 through 2007 and the US Open from 2004 through 2008.
Federer spent 310 weeks at No. 1, including a record 237 consecutive weeks. Between 2005 and 2010, he reached 18 of 19 Grand Slam finals.
Known for his ferocious forehand, brilliant one-handed backhand and graceful movement, Federer learned to play with his father’s heavy wooden racket. The racket forced him to hit both forehands and backhands with two hands.
“Who knew I was going to become a single-handed player? Any single-handed players left out there?” he asked the crowd.
During his Hall of Fame speech, Federer thanked his family and everyone in what he called the “ecosystem of tennis,” including ball kids, coaches, linesmen and opponents. He also thanked the Hall of Fame, which has more than 25,000 artifacts on its grounds.
“And now, I guess, I’m one of them, too,” he said to raucous laughter.
Mary Carillo joins Federer in Hall of Fame
Mary Carillo was also inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Her professional playing career was cut short by knee problems, after which she became one of television’s leading tennis commentators and a pioneer for women in sports broadcasting.
Introduced by fellow Hall of Famer Billie Jean King, her friend of more than 50 years, Carillo became known for explaining a player’s mindset during the most important points of a match. She also knew when to tell producers to “cut my mike” and let the action tell the story.
Carillo played professionally from 1977 to 1980. Although she never won a Grand Slam singles title, she captured the 1977 French Open mixed doubles championship with fellow left-hander and childhood friend from Queens, John McEnroe.
When asked to describe McEnroe and Federer, Carillo borrowed words from German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. McEnroe, who was inducted in 1999, was among the tennis legends attending the ceremony.
“What Schopenhauer wrote is, ‘Talent hits a target that no one else can hit. Genius hits a target that no one else can see,’ ” Carillo said. “And that to me, I mean, we’ve all been trying to describe Roger Federer for about 20 years now, that’s as close as I can come.”
