What Roger Federer once claimed was the reason he and Serena Williams enjoyed such long careers

Why Roger Federer and Serena Williams enjoyed such long careers

Such longevity was indeed referenced at the 2019 US Open, when Federer was asked in a press conference what he attributed to the lengthy careers of himself and WTA star Williams.

The ATP legend replied: “I’m not sure. Look, Serena and me, she started even earlier than I did on the tour.

“She’s also had many more injuries than me and more time off away from the game than I did. We went about it different ways, totally different backgrounds and all that.

“Still I guess you need to be successful, you need to love what you’re doing, find a way to really keep yourself entertained because you go through moments where maybe being away from your home city, village, country, house, whatever it may be, friends, it’s not that fulfilling. You sometimes got to look for ways to keep going.

“I think what’s helped me so much is stability with my relationship with my wife, my relationship with my sister and my parents, then just the friends we were able to keep throughout my career on the road.

“It didn’t make me feel like if ever I came home I had nobody. I always felt like our friends couldn’t wait to come either meet us at the tournaments or wait for us at home.

“That just made time away or at home so much fun. That has helped me a lot. I mean, success has played a big part in Serena’s and my career, for sure.

“Maybe traveling and only winning 50% of the matches on tour, then maybe also we wouldn’t be playing any more.

“But because we know we can still beat the best, win the biggest tournaments, it’s so worthwhile to stay there and see if you can go back to these emotions, see if you can do it at a later stage in your career, and be a totally different person almost, a different player sort of 20 years later. It’s quite exciting actually.”

Roger Federer and Serena Williams both retired in 2022 after stunning careers

As ever, it was a fantastic answer and indeed fantastic attitude from Federer, who admirably gave tennis fans a real insight into his thought process.

He reached the quarterfinals of the US Open that year, having lost the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic earlier in 2019.

That represented his last ever Grand Slam final, with Federer calling time on his career at the 2022 Laver Cup.

He won 103 titles overall, with his fellow legend Williams ending her career at the 2022 US Open with 73 WTA titles to her name.