Roger Federer reveals what winning really looks like in inspirational commencement speech

Retired tennis great Roger Federer earned a reputation as one of sport’s nice guys. Generally polite and thoughtful when dealing with the media, wonderfully generous to charity and only occasionally prickly on court.

He played with such effortless style (more of that later), that it appeared he occupied the first 10 places of the queue when the tennis gods were handing out talent the year he was conceived.

This week a video of Federer giving a commencement speech at Ivy League School Dartmouth College went viral because, for a few minutes it was as if we were granted unfettered access into his mind.

It showed a new side to Federer, further entrenching those traits above and showing us what mentality it really requires to lead a successful life — and it’s not about winning every point.

Players don’t tend to give away much when they are active, for obvious reasons. Any new information an opponent can glean about your game or mental state can be weaponised against you.

But in the more serene setting of leafy New Hampshire, with the luxury of time and distance from his playing days, Federer gave a 25-minute speech as rousing as the same-length highlights reel of his finest shots would be.

The curtain on what made him so great was finally pulled back so we could peer behind and see what made the winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles and the possessor of the finest single-handed backhand in history, come to work every day.

Roger Federer at Dartmouth College giving the speech. (Screengrab: Dartmouth College)

Grit

“Yes talent matters,” Federer told his audience without missing a beat despite the background din of a nearby protest against the War in Gaza.

“I’m not going to stand here and tell you it doesn’t. But talent has a broad definition,” Federer, who received an honorary doctorate from the University, said. “Most of the time, it’s not about having a gift. It’s about having grit.

“In tennis, a great forehand can be called a talent. But in tennis, like in life, discipline is also a talent. And so is patience. Trusting yourself is a talent. Embracing the process, loving the process, is a talent. Managing your life, managing yourself; these can be talents, too. Some people are born with them. Everybody has to work at them.”

Roger Federer of Switzerland during the Match in Africa against Rafael Nadal at Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa. 7 February 2020. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

Not effortless

It also turns out that the “effortless” moniker rankles. And in retrospect he’s right — nothing done at the absolute highest level can be ‘effortless’. What is seen, especially in elite sport, but also in most spheres where people are successful, is only the tip of a very large iceberg.

For Federer, because his style was aesthetically pleasing, he had to endure the image of someone who was born with an innate gift to play tennis like no one before or since. The image was that he never perspired and simply turned up to win.

He let the Dartmouth class of 2024, and thanks to the wonder of social media, the rest of us, know that it was all an illusion. A wondrous, beautiful illusion, but an illusion nonetheless.

“It wasn’t effortless,” Federer told his audience. “I got that reputation because my warm-ups at the tournaments were so casual that people didn’t think I had been training hard.

“But I had been working hard before the tournament, when nobody was watching. I didn’t get where I got on pure talent alone. I got there by trying to outwork my opponents. I believed in myself. But belief in yourself has to be earned. The truth is, I had to work very hard to make it look easy.

“Maybe you’ve seen a version of this at Dartmouth.

“How many times did you feel like your classmates were racking up “A” after “A” without even trying… while you were pulling all-nighters... loading up on caffeine… crying softly in a corner of Sanborn Library?

“Hopefully, like me, you learned that “effortless” is a myth.

I didn’t get where I got on pure talent alone. I got there by trying to outwork my opponents.”

Roger Federer of Switzerland plays a shot during ‘The Greatest Match’ to Alexander Zverev at Plaza Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. 23 November 2019 (Photo: Angel Castillo/Jam Media/Getty Images)

‘It’s only a point’

Surprisingly, Federer also revealed that despite winning most of his 1,526 singles matches in his career, he was actually losing nearly half the time.

If that sounds nonsensical, let Federer explain: “In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. “Now, I have a question for all of you: what percentage of the points do you think I won in those matches?” he asked the audience.

If you said 75% or 60%, you’d be wrong. “Fifty-four per cent,” Federer revealed. And it’s true, you can check his stats on the ATP website.

What he was saying to a class of high achievers who are going to go out into the world expecting to win most of the time, is that much of life might be about losing smaller battles, and that’s okay.

Watch Federer’s full speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqWUuYTcG-o

“When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot,” Federer said.

“You teach yourself to think: ‘Okay, I double-faulted. It’s only a point.’ Here’s why I am telling you this. When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you.

“This mindset is crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point and the next one after that — with intensity, clarity and focus. The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose, and it’s natural when you’re down to doubt yourself.

“To feel sorry for yourself. But negative energy is wasted energy. You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion. Not the best because they win every point. It’s because they know they’ll lose again and again, and have learned how to deal with it.

“You move on, be relentless, adapt, and grow.

“In 2008, I was going for a record sixth consecutive title. I was playing for history. There were rain delays, the sun went down... Rafa (Nadal) won two sets, I won the next two sets in tiebreaks, and we found ourselves at seven all in the fifth.

“I understand why people focus on the end... the final minutes so dark I could barely see the chalk on the grass. But looking back... I feel like I lost at the very first point of the match.

“I looked across the net and I saw a guy who, just a few weeks earlier, crushed me in straight sets at the French Open, and I thought... this guy is maybe hungrier than I am... And he’s finally got my number.

“It took me until the third set before I remembered... ‘hey, buddy, you’re the five-time defending champion! And you’re on grass, by the way. You know how to do this...’. But that came too late, and Rafa won. And it was well-deserved.”

Roger Federer of Switzerland during day two of the 2019 Hopman Cup at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. 30 December 2018. (Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Roger Federer was a master on the court and it’s now clearer why. He might not enjoy that image of being someone to whom playing tennis came easy, because it obviously didn’t.

But with this insight into his mindset, we can appreciate Federer even more because he toiled like a mere mortal to produce tennis that will live immortally through the ages.

And now he is also inspiring a new generation of youngsters, through his words, wisdom and insight. Not through the wizardry of his footwork and racquet control, but through his words.

Effortless is a myth.
It’s only a point.
Life is bigger than the court.

DM