It was already known since December 28, but now something more is known about the reason behind this decision. No complications after double knee surgery: according to Andre Sa, a former Brazilian tennis player who now manages the public relations between the players and the Australian Grand Slam, at the basis of Federer’s decision to give up for the first time in his career Australian Open there is the family.
Sa reveals the chat that took place about a month ago with Federer: “Roger had two alternatives: to come to Australia with the whole family and spend the 14-day quarantine period, or to come alone. In the first case, however, Mirka and the children they would not have been able to leave the room, unlike him, who could have trained as per protocol.
In the second case, however, he would have had to spend over a month away from the family. ‘Dude, I’m 39 years old, four kids and 20 titles of the Grand Slam. I am no longer in that period where I can abandon my family for five weeks, ‘Roger explained to me, thus clarifying that the priority at this moment for him is that of love.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli revealed that meeting Roger Federer was very special for both him and his wife Anushka Sharma. The Indian skipper also hailed the humility and kindness of the Swiss legend.
While chatting with fellow Indian cricketer Mayank Agarwal on the BCCI website, Indian skipper Virat Kohli reminisced about his interaction with Roger Federer at the 2019 Australian Open.
“It was very special,” said Kohli. “I had met him a few times before but Anushak had not. We both love Roger!” Kohli himself is massively popular in India, and has been the Indian Test team captain since 2015.
However, he believes that Roger Federer’s popularity is like no other in the world of sport. “I think the whole world is a fan of Roger. I have never seen any one person so well connected with the world. If any tennis match is going on, you always want Roger to win,” asserted Kohli.
“He is so humble, so kind,” Kohli said. “He was in a meeting and we were waiting on the side and he just came, didn’t even sit. He just stood there and spoke to us while he was going nonstop from one place to another for meetings.
We spoke for half an hour and discussed things. For him, how the Australian Open is going, who he is going to play tomorrow, stuff like that. It was a very, very special chat,” he added.
