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![Federer on his comeback after a thirteen month injury break: The Swiss win in Doha against the British Daniel Evans.]()
foto-net / Paul Zimmer
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Federer on his comeback after a thirteen month injury break: The Swiss win in Doha against the British Daniel Evans.
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![Federer had to wait a long time for the return and the 39-year-old had to work hard for it.]()
keystone-sda.ch
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Federer had to wait a long time for the return and the 39-year-old had to work hard for it.
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![In the second round the defeat against the Georgian Nikolos Basilashvili followed.]()
Getty Images
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In the second round the defeat against the Georgian Nikolos Basilashvili followed.
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![In 2003 Roger Federer won the first of 20 Grand Slam titles to date.]()
Bongarts/Getty Images
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In 2003 Roger Federer won the first of 20 Grand Slam titles to date.
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![At the Australian Open 2018, Federer triumphed for the last time at the highest tournament level.]()
imago images/Hasenkopf
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At the Australian Open 2018, Federer triumphed for the last time at the highest tournament level.
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“I missed him!” This is not an entry in the diary of a longingly waiting lover. This is what tennis experts, work colleagues and journalists said in the days before Roger Federer’s comeback. He was gone thirteen months, had two knee operations and fought his way back again.
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The first appearance in Doha nourished our hope that everything will turn out well again with him and us. Let’s stay with the jargon of lovers: Roger Federer beamed after the win against Daniel Evans like after the first date. We also.
Then came round two and the defeat against Nikolos Basilashvili. It was like the first argument at the kitchen table after the exciting reunification in a relationship. Total disillusionment: Roger Federer looked tired, battered, vulnerable.
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In the past: butterflies in your stomach
Will it ever be the same as it used to be when we had these butterflies in our stomach, he was bursting with youthfulness and – felt – always won? So it’s not that easy after all, we realized. That was our mood.
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But how was Roger Federer doing at that moment? He was just happy to be back here, said the 39-year-old after the match. And with this statement we are approaching the crucial point in the complex relationship box: We missed it.
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He surely us a little too, our clapping, our admiration, our ohs! and ahs! He likes us, sure. But his really big love is the game. We are the community of convenience, tennis its amour fou.
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“Don’t do this to us anymore!”
A fan wrote on Twitter: “Take a seat. Enjoy your money and your family, but don’t do that to us anymore! ” How wrong this statement is! It’s not about us. Yes, we suffer. Yes, we want the times of the “invincible” back.
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If we can’t stand the fact that Federer is no longer the superhuman, always victorious monster, then that’s our problem. For he sees the world as pink.
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Surely you also have this one friend in your circle of acquaintances who leads this relationship that nobody really understands because it is so wild and highly emotional. What do you whisper to yourself? “The main thing is that he is happy!” – We should take that to heart. With that in mind: cheers for true love!
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–Published: March 14th, 2021, 12:42 am
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