Roger Federer admits he’s a bit of a crybaby.
The former tennis player told Pvnew exclusively at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday that he “cried six times at the screening” of his documentary, “Federer: Final Twelve Days.”
Federer, 42, clarified that he shed tears of joy because he feels “happy, gratified, thankful.”
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The film follows the 12-day period between the 2022 announcement of the athlete’s retirement and his final professional hit on court, a doubles match with Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup.
“Seeing all my competitors and rivals and friends speaking about me always hits home hard,” Federer told us.
He added that seeing his children “going through the process” also made him emotional.
The eight-time Wimbledon champion, who was ranked No. 1 in singles for an astonishing 301 weeks, shared that he originally made the film for his four kids, whom he shares with his wife, Mirka Federer, and never intended for it to be seen by the public. However, he slowly came around to the idea of releasing it.
“I think I had to do some soul-searching on my own. ‘Is this something I want out there or not?’ for one,” he explained. “Number two, I felt that the footage was too good to put into a vault.”
Federer added that he was not ready to “talk about [his] whole life,” but the idea of a “snapshot” showing the emotion behind his decision to quit the sport “really resonated” with him.
Since retiring, the Olympian has kept busy by traveling with his family and getting on a court with his children, whom he does not feel the need to dominate.
“I’m not very competitive to be honest,” he shared. “You’d think that I am brutally competitive, but I’m not. I’m super relaxed and laid-back. … I just want it to be [played] in a good spirit, and they actually realize that tennis is supposed to be fun and not just a sport.”
“Federer: Twelve Final Days” begins streaming June 20 on Amazon Prime Video.
