Milk tart and medals on Federer ’ s list
SA roots of tennis great recalled on Olympics eve
SOUTH African-born Lynette Federer will be rooting for her superstar son to win his first Olympic gold medal — in the colours of his native Switzerland.
Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is hoping to clinch the Olympics tennis singles title to add to his already bulging trophy cabinet.
This week he told a packed news conference that he had decided to turn down an offer to carry the flag for Team Switzerland during the opening ceremony on Friday.
This may be because his last three Olympics appearances yielded no results.
“I think for Roger every win is important. To win the Olympic gold in singles would be yet another milestone in his career. It would be great if he can win the gold medal,” his mother, the former Lynette Durand, told the Sunday Times.
“It is important to always have goals in tennis. I think this drives you on in your sport.”
It all could have been so different had Roger grown up in Lynette ’ s home town of Kempton Park near Johannesburg — and he may well have represented South Africa.
Lynette met Roger’s Swiss father, Robert Federer, while they worked together at a chemical company in Isando, east of Johannesburg, and they moved to Europe three-and-a-half years later. Roger was born in Switzerland.
Lynette said that, long before Roger was born, the couple were regular tennis players and, before moving to Switzerland, played regularly at the Swiss Club in Johannesburg where they became passionate about the game.
“I am very fortunate. My husband lost his heart in South Africa. We visit South Africa at least once a year and go to my home town Kempton Park where I still have family, and the Eastern Cape and [Mpumalanga].”
The family’s South African roots prompted them to support several development projects via the Roger Federer Foundation, which has supported projects in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Roger has visited foundation projects in Port Elizabeth.
She said: “Roger always enjoys visiting South Africa. Unfortunately his profession and schedule do not allow him to do so often.”
She said her son, considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, was very fond of milk tart and could speak a few words of Afrikaans.
By the time Roger was 13 he was good enough to beat his mom — who was herself a competitive league player.
Said Lynette: “Roger was always mad about ball sports and always had a ball with him. So gradually he picked up a racquet and just loved keeping himself busy at the wall, against cupboards and so on.
“My husband and I played tennis league and a lot of our activities entailed tennis.
“We truly did like tennis but our weekends did not just consist of tennis only. We went hiking, biking, skiing, swimming, played squash, table tennis. Roger also played football and was talented there, too.”
Like most great sportsmen, she said, Roger hated losing — and family board games sometimes did not end happily.
Federer has won 17 Grand Slam tennis titles — more than anybody else in the sport. His doubles partner, Stan Wawrinka, with whom Federer won the gold doubles medal in Beijing in 2008, carried the flag for Switzerland at Friday’s opening ceremony.