今年1月29日，
35歲的羅傑·費德勒
在經歷四年多的低迷後，
重奪澳網男單冠軍，
收穫第18個大滿貫，
創造了“高齡”奪冠的網壇奇跡。
很多人覺得，
費德勒能再次攀上大滿貫之巔，
靠的是天賦和近乎完美的技術。
但實際上，
一直支撐著“費天王”
一次次走出低谷、重新奪冠的，
是他對網球的熱愛
和絕不輕易放棄的精神。
I Need the Fire, the Excitement, the Whole Rollercoaster
Roger Federer slowly, lovingly, takes the wrapping off his new racket, like a little boy with a giant lollipop. “It’s my Wimbledon (溫布頓網球錦標賽) racket,” he says. He runs his fingers along the frame, bounces a hand against its head. He passes the racket to me—it is light and not highly strung (緊的), which could also be said of the man. He looks lean, tanned, glowing, in the way only an elite athlete can.
羅傑·費德勒小心翼翼地慢慢揭開新球拍的包裝， 就像一個小男孩拿著一個超大的棒棒糖。 “這是我的溫布頓球拍。 ”他說著， 手指滑過拍框， 又用手彈了彈拍頭。 他把球拍遞給我——球拍很輕， 球線並沒有繃得很緊——這也可以用來形容他這個人。 他看起來身形精瘦， 皮膚黝黑， 容光煥發， 只有運動精英有這樣的相貌。
Since winning his first major tournament (錦標賽), he has been known for his calm. He doesn’t shout at himself or his coaching team; he smiles rather than snarls on court; and he rarely questions decisions. The young Federer was a quite different proposition (傢伙).
自從第一次贏得大型錦標賽， 他就以鎮靜聞名。 他不大嚷大叫， 也不吼自己的訓練團隊；他在球場上常常微笑，
He loved tennis from a young age, always playing against a wall at home, at a club with his Swiss father, a chemical engineer, and South African mother. But when he started to compete, aged eight, he would get frustrated, berating himself, telling himself he was rubbish. “I’d commentate on each shot, saying, how in the world could I miss that, I can’t believe how badly you’re playing, this is just a joke.” For a second, he sounds like John “You cannot be serious”McEnroe (約翰·麥肯羅， 美國網球運動員， 以壞脾氣著稱). Tournament officials would tick him off (責備) for being too verbal, and tell him he was putting off other players.
費德勒對網球的熱愛始於很小的時候， 他經常在家對著牆練習， 或是在俱樂部和自己的父母打網球。 他父親是瑞士人，
Could he have become a champion if he’d stayed that way? “Yes, but not to the extent I am today.” He grins. “Well, I’ve won 17 [grand slams (網球大滿貫賽事的冠軍)], so maybe I could have won a few being a little bit cuckoo (癲狂的), but I’m not sure. You have to be mentally tough, physically strong, consistent, and I wasn’t. So I’m really proud I managed to turn it around.”
如果他一直這樣， 他還能成為冠軍嗎？“能， 但是不會有今天這樣的成就， ”他咧嘴笑道， “我已經贏得了17個大滿貫(編注：英文原文發表於2016年6月)， 如果我一直像之前那樣不太理智， 可能也能拿到幾個。 但這也說不定。 運動員必須心理素質過硬、身體強健、持之以恆，
Federer is missing his first grand slam in 17 years. He has played in 65 successive slams, a testament to his hunger and his fitness. Then there is his record. Or records. Federer’s grand slam total makes him the greatest male tennis player ever. His closest rivals, Pete Sampras (皮特·桑普拉斯， 美國前職業網球運動員) and Rafa Nadal (拉菲爾·納達爾， 西班牙職業網球運動員), have 14 each. Novak Djokovic (諾瓦克·德約科維奇， 塞爾維亞職業網球運動員), who has achieved the near-impossible this year of holding all four major titles at once, is coming up fast behind—but has only 12.
費德勒17年來第一次錯過了大滿貫賽事(編注：此處指2016年5月費德勒因傷退出法網比賽)。
It’s not simply his record that makes Federer the greatest, it’s the way he plays. Only once in a blue moon (千載難逢的) does somebody come along who transcends their sport, elevating it into a thing of beauty: Lionel Messi (裡奧內爾·梅西， 阿根廷足球運動員) in football, Muhammad Ali in boxing, Ronnie O’Sullivan (羅尼·奧沙利文， 世界著名斯諾克球手) in snooker, and Federer.
費德勒之所以成為最偉大的球員， 不僅僅是因為他的紀錄， 還因為他打球的方式。 能超越自己從事的運動並將其昇華到美的層面的人少之又少：足球領域有裡奧內爾·梅西、拳擊領域有穆罕默德·阿裡、斯諾克檯球領域有羅尼·奧沙利文， 還有就是費德勒。
There’s the spirit with which he plays, and the elegance—the single-handed backhand, the driving forehand. Federer can match today’s baseline bullies, but he can also mix it up with the serve (發球) and volley (截擊空中球) that used to dominate the men’s game. His appearance is every bit as stylish. It wasn’t always that way: When Federer first emerged on to the scene, he looked fresh out of a teenage heavy metal band. But once he chopped off the ponytail he cut a different figure—more Jay Gatsby (蓋茨比，小說《了不起的蓋茨比》中的主人公) than Ozzy Osbourne (奧茲·奧斯朋，英國重金屬音樂人).
他打球有一股精神，打法優雅——單手反拍，正手攻球。他能與當今霸氣的底線進攻球員們匹敵，還可以把這種技術和曾經主導男子網球的發球及攔擊相結合。他從頭到腳看上去都很有型。但他以前可不是這樣：費德勒剛出現在網球場時，看起來就像剛從重金屬樂隊出來的少年。但他一剪掉馬尾辮，完全令人刮目相看——更像傑伊·蓋茨比，而不是奧茲·奧斯朋。
17歲時的費德勒
For all the achievements of Nadal and Djokovic, no player is loved quite like Federer. In a famous essay for the New York Times, the novelist David Foster Wallace (大衛·福斯特·華萊士，美國小說家) wrote that watching him play was akin to a religious experience. And in 25 years of interviewing, I have never had such a swooning (心醉神迷的) reaction from friends and colleagues when I’ve told them who I’m meeting—young and old, men and women, Federer crushes know no bounds.
儘管納達爾和德約科維奇都成績斐然，但沒有哪個運動員能像費德勒那樣受到追捧。小說家大衛·福斯特·華萊士在《紐約時報》一篇著名的文章中寫道，觀看費德勒打球猶如一次宗教體驗。當我告訴朋友和同事我要去見費德勒時，他們那心醉神迷的反應是我在25年採訪生涯中從未見過的——不論長幼，不論男女，對費德勒的迷戀沒有邊界。
與粉絲合影
Federer won junior Wimbledon at 16, but then his emotions kept getting the better of (戰勝)him. Other players realised he had a fatal flaw. “People knew, eventually he’ll crack,” he says. “Just stay with him and he’ll give you some easy mistakes. So I tried to create this aura of invincibility, of being tough to beat.” It took him a long time; Federer was almost 22 when he finally got the title.
費德勒16歲便在溫網青少年組中獲勝，但之後他一直為自己的情緒所左右。其他選手都意識到他有這個致命弱點。“大家都知道我終將失控，”他說，“只要跟我磨，我就會犯些低級錯誤。所以我努力培養自己戰無不勝、難以打敗的氣場。”這花了費德勒很長時間。等他終於獲得溫網冠軍時，他都快22歲了。
So he had to move from being a tantrum-throwing (發脾氣的) McEnroe to a samurai-like (像武士一樣的) Bjorn Borg (比約恩·柏格，前瑞典網球運動員，意志力驚人)? “To some extent, but Borg was all ice.” Federer’s heroes come from a later generation and are fiery types such as Goran Ivanisevic (戈蘭·伊萬尼塞維奇，克羅埃西亞網球運動).
所以他必須改變自己，不再做暴脾氣的麥肯羅，而是要變成日本武士一般的比約恩·柏格嗎？“可以說是這樣，但是柏格太過冰冷了。”費德勒的偶像出自更晚的那代人，都是熱情似火的類型，例如戈蘭·伊萬尼塞維奇。
When coaches told him he had to quieten down, he agreed, but only up to a point. “I said, I have to get my emotion out, I can’t handle it. They were like, yes, it’s good but not so much. Eventually I said, I need to find a balance. I can’t just be ice, it becomes horribly boring. I need the fire, the excitement, the passion, the whole rollercoaster (情緒急轉突變). But I need it at a level where I can handle it: If I’m all fire, I go nuts. It took two years to figure that out. It was a long road.”
教練讓費德勒沉靜下來時，他答應了，但只冷靜到某種程度。“我說，我必須把情緒發洩出來，我控制不了。他們就說，可以，這很好，但別太過火。最後，我說我需要找到一個平衡點。我不能只是冷冰冰的，那太乏味了。我需要熱情，需要興奮，需要激情，需要情緒的起起伏伏。但是我需要將其保持在我能掌控的程度。我如果太過激動，就會失去理智。我花了兩年時間才想明白這件事，這兩年很漫長。”
Federer says there is a story that Mirka, his wife and the mother of his children (two sets of twins, identical girls Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, who will be seven in July; and fraternal (異卵雙生的) boys Lenny and Leo, two), tells about the first time she set eyes on him. “I was playing club tennis in Switzerland and everybody said, ‘Go see this guy, he’s super talented, the future of tennis.’ And the first thing she saw was me throwing a racket and shouting, and she was like [mockingly], ‘Yeah! Great player, he seems really good! What’s wrong with this guy?’”
費德勒提到一件軼事，是他妻子也是他孩子(兩對雙胞胎：一對同卵雙胞胎女孩，今年7月就七歲了的梅拉·羅塞和查倫·裡瓦；一對異卵雙胞胎男孩，兩歲的倫尼和萊奧)的母親米爾卡說她第一次看見費德勒的情形。“我當時正在瑞士一家俱樂部打網球，周圍人都在說：‘快來看這個小夥子，真是天賦異稟，是網球的未來啊。’她第一眼看到我時，我正扔掉球拍，大喊大叫。她好像(語帶嘲諷)說了句：‘是啊！了不起的運動員，他看起來真不錯啊！這傢伙有什麼毛病吧？’”
費德勒的妻子米爾卡和雙胞胎女兒
Federer says Mirka has played a huge part in his success. Look at the facts, he says. “When I met her I had zero titles, today I have 88, so she’s been on this ride for the whole time.” He talks of her with tender pride: “She used to train five, six hours in a row. She was tough, and she taught me how to work.”
費德勒說他之所以成功，米爾卡對他幫助很大。事實擺在這兒，他說。“剛遇見她時我一個冠軍也沒有，現在我已經有88個了，所以我的奪冠之路都有她相伴。”說起米爾卡時，他帶著點小驕傲：“她過去常常連續訓練五六個小時。她很堅強，教會了我如何訓練。”
There is a conventional wisdom that natural talent gets you only so far: It takes elite performers 10,000 hours’ practice to fulfil their potential. Does this make Federer the exception to the rule? Has he achieved his success without putting in the hours?
有一個人所共知的道理，那就是光靠天賦你走不遠：精英運動員要用上萬個小時的練習去挖掘自己的潛能。費德勒的情況是例外嗎？他沒投入那麼多時間就取得了成功嗎？
God no, he says. He was always putting in the hours; just not necessarily in the right order and at the right time. Only when he put in Mirka-style stints (工作期限) did he start to fulfil his potential. Even then, his progress was hardly linear.
當然不是，他說。他一直在投入時間，只是時機和順序不一定對。直到他開始米爾卡模式的定額練習，他才開始發掘出自己的潛能。即使那樣，他的進步也並非一帆風順。
2015溫網八分之一決賽
In 2001, he made headlines by beating Sampras at Wimbledon and reaching the quarter-finals; he also got to the quarters in the French Open (法國網球公開賽), but the following year he was knocked out of both in the first round. “All of a sudden, people started to ask, where had the talent gone?”
2001年，他在溫網打敗桑普拉斯，進入1/4決賽，因此登上新聞頭條。當年他也進了法網的1/4決賽。但是接下來的一年，他在這兩項比賽中都是在第一輪就遭淘汰。“突然，人們開始質疑，我的天賦去哪兒了？”
In 2003, he finally broke through, beating Mark Philippoussis (馬克·菲力浦西斯，澳大利亞網球運動員) in the Wimbledon final in straight sets (盤，以輸贏局數決定單打或雙打比賽勝負的計數單位，一般勝六局為勝一盤), and over the next six years established himself as the greatest. There is barely a record Federer hasn’t broken: 10 consecutive grand slam finals, 23 consecutive semi-finals, 36 consecutive quarter-finals. He has spent 302 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, 237 consecutively. He is the only player to have won two grand slams five times consecutively—Wimbledon (2003~2007) and the US Open (2004~2008).
2003年，他終於取得突破，在溫網決賽連勝三盤擊敗馬克·菲力浦西斯。接下來的六年裡，他被公認為最強大的網球選手，他幾乎打破了所有紀錄：蟬聯十個大滿貫，連續23次殺進半決賽，連續36次進入1/4決賽。他排名世界第一的時間達到302周，其中237周是連續排名第一。他是唯一一個接連五次贏得溫網(2003~2007)和美網(2004~2008)這兩項大滿貫賽事冠軍的選手。
2017澳網男單冠軍
He is ranked fourth in Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, earning around $67m over the past year, $60m of that for appearance fees and endorsements. He has earned more than any tennis player in prize money alone: $98m.
他在《福布斯》全球最高薪運動員排行榜上位列第四，去年賺了大概6700萬美元，其中6000萬是出場費和廣告代言費。單是獎金收入他就超過了其他任何運動員：9800萬美元。
Unsurprisingly, there are endless rumours about his impending retirement, but he insists he has no plans. “I don’t want to say I’m enjoying it more, but it’s different. I have a deeper love for the game today. Before it was chasing the dream. Today it is living the dream and appreciating I can still do it. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
關於他即將退役的傳言不斷傳出，這並不令人意外，但他堅持說自己還沒這個打算。“我不想說自己比以前更享受打網球，但的確有所不同。我對這項運動愛得更深了。之前我是在追夢，如今我是在享受夢想。我還能打網球，對此我心懷感激。這是一種美妙的感覺。”
休息時的費德勒
So many fans thought that, as soon as he stopped bossing the game, he would just walk away.
很多粉絲認為，一旦費德勒不再稱霸網壇，他就會離開。
“Yes,” he says, “I’ve heard retirement [talk] since 2009 when I won the French Open and people were like, well, what else are you playing for? I’m like, what’s wrong with you people? Don’t you understand that playing tennis is great fun? I don’t need to win three slams a year to be content. If the body doesn’t want to do it, if the mind doesn’t want to do it, if my wife doesn’t want me to do it, if my kids don’t like it, I’ll stop tomorrow. Zero problem. But I love tennis in such a big way that I don’t care if I don’t win so much anymore. For me that is irrelevant.”
“是的，”他說，“從2009年我贏得法網時，就聽到過有關我退役的言論。人們會說，哎，你還圖什麼呢？而我覺得，你們這些人怎麼了？你們難道不知道打網球非常有趣嗎？我不需要一年贏三個大滿貫來獲得滿足感。如果我的身體不想打了，心裡不想打了，我妻子不想讓我打了，我的孩子不想讓我打了，那我明天就不打了。絕對沒問題。但我太愛網球了，不能再贏那麼多冠軍這件事我毫不在乎。對我來說，這不重要。”
If there’s one tournament he’d like to win again, what would it be? “Wimbledon,” he says instantly. “This is where my heroes—Becker (貝克爾，德國職業網球運動員), Edberg (埃德伯格，前瑞典職業網球運動員), Sampras—won. I won the juniors there in 1998, my first slam. I won all these unbelievable matches there. Wimbledon is the holy grail.”
如果他還想贏一次比賽，會是哪個比賽呢？“溫布頓，”他立馬答道，“那是我的偶像貝克爾、埃德伯格和桑普拉斯獲勝的地方。我1998年在那兒贏得了青少年比賽，那也是我贏得第一個大滿貫的地方。我所有精彩的比賽都是在那兒打的。溫布頓是我心中的聖杯。”
There’s the spirit with which he plays, and the elegance—the single-handed backhand, the driving forehand. Federer can match today’s baseline bullies, but he can also mix it up with the serve (發球) and volley (截擊空中球) that used to dominate the men’s game. His appearance is every bit as stylish. It wasn’t always that way: When Federer first emerged on to the scene, he looked fresh out of a teenage heavy metal band. But once he chopped off the ponytail he cut a different figure—more Jay Gatsby (蓋茨比，小說《了不起的蓋茨比》中的主人公) than Ozzy Osbourne (奧茲·奧斯朋，英國重金屬音樂人).
他打球有一股精神，打法優雅——單手反拍，正手攻球。他能與當今霸氣的底線進攻球員們匹敵，還可以把這種技術和曾經主導男子網球的發球及攔擊相結合。他從頭到腳看上去都很有型。但他以前可不是這樣：費德勒剛出現在網球場時，看起來就像剛從重金屬樂隊出來的少年。但他一剪掉馬尾辮，完全令人刮目相看——更像傑伊·蓋茨比，而不是奧茲·奧斯朋。
17歲時的費德勒
For all the achievements of Nadal and Djokovic, no player is loved quite like Federer. In a famous essay for the New York Times, the novelist David Foster Wallace (大衛·福斯特·華萊士，美國小說家) wrote that watching him play was akin to a religious experience. And in 25 years of interviewing, I have never had such a swooning (心醉神迷的) reaction from friends and colleagues when I’ve told them who I’m meeting—young and old, men and women, Federer crushes know no bounds.
儘管納達爾和德約科維奇都成績斐然，但沒有哪個運動員能像費德勒那樣受到追捧。小說家大衛·福斯特·華萊士在《紐約時報》一篇著名的文章中寫道，觀看費德勒打球猶如一次宗教體驗。當我告訴朋友和同事我要去見費德勒時，他們那心醉神迷的反應是我在25年採訪生涯中從未見過的——不論長幼，不論男女，對費德勒的迷戀沒有邊界。
與粉絲合影
Federer won junior Wimbledon at 16, but then his emotions kept getting the better of (戰勝)him. Other players realised he had a fatal flaw. “People knew, eventually he’ll crack,” he says. “Just stay with him and he’ll give you some easy mistakes. So I tried to create this aura of invincibility, of being tough to beat.” It took him a long time; Federer was almost 22 when he finally got the title.
費德勒16歲便在溫網青少年組中獲勝，但之後他一直為自己的情緒所左右。其他選手都意識到他有這個致命弱點。“大家都知道我終將失控，”他說，“只要跟我磨，我就會犯些低級錯誤。所以我努力培養自己戰無不勝、難以打敗的氣場。”這花了費德勒很長時間。等他終於獲得溫網冠軍時，他都快22歲了。
So he had to move from being a tantrum-throwing (發脾氣的) McEnroe to a samurai-like (像武士一樣的) Bjorn Borg (比約恩·柏格，前瑞典網球運動員，意志力驚人)? “To some extent, but Borg was all ice.” Federer’s heroes come from a later generation and are fiery types such as Goran Ivanisevic (戈蘭·伊萬尼塞維奇，克羅埃西亞網球運動).
所以他必須改變自己，不再做暴脾氣的麥肯羅，而是要變成日本武士一般的比約恩·柏格嗎？“可以說是這樣，但是柏格太過冰冷了。”費德勒的偶像出自更晚的那代人，都是熱情似火的類型，例如戈蘭·伊萬尼塞維奇。
When coaches told him he had to quieten down, he agreed, but only up to a point. “I said, I have to get my emotion out, I can’t handle it. They were like, yes, it’s good but not so much. Eventually I said, I need to find a balance. I can’t just be ice, it becomes horribly boring. I need the fire, the excitement, the passion, the whole rollercoaster (情緒急轉突變). But I need it at a level where I can handle it: If I’m all fire, I go nuts. It took two years to figure that out. It was a long road.”
教練讓費德勒沉靜下來時，他答應了，但只冷靜到某種程度。“我說，我必須把情緒發洩出來，我控制不了。他們就說，可以，這很好，但別太過火。最後，我說我需要找到一個平衡點。我不能只是冷冰冰的，那太乏味了。我需要熱情，需要興奮，需要激情，需要情緒的起起伏伏。但是我需要將其保持在我能掌控的程度。我如果太過激動，就會失去理智。我花了兩年時間才想明白這件事，這兩年很漫長。”
Federer says there is a story that Mirka, his wife and the mother of his children (two sets of twins, identical girls Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, who will be seven in July; and fraternal (異卵雙生的) boys Lenny and Leo, two), tells about the first time she set eyes on him. “I was playing club tennis in Switzerland and everybody said, ‘Go see this guy, he’s super talented, the future of tennis.’ And the first thing she saw was me throwing a racket and shouting, and she was like [mockingly], ‘Yeah! Great player, he seems really good! What’s wrong with this guy?’”
費德勒提到一件軼事，是他妻子也是他孩子(兩對雙胞胎：一對同卵雙胞胎女孩，今年7月就七歲了的梅拉·羅塞和查倫·裡瓦；一對異卵雙胞胎男孩，兩歲的倫尼和萊奧)的母親米爾卡說她第一次看見費德勒的情形。“我當時正在瑞士一家俱樂部打網球，周圍人都在說：‘快來看這個小夥子，真是天賦異稟，是網球的未來啊。’她第一眼看到我時，我正扔掉球拍，大喊大叫。她好像(語帶嘲諷)說了句：‘是啊！了不起的運動員，他看起來真不錯啊！這傢伙有什麼毛病吧？’”
費德勒的妻子米爾卡和雙胞胎女兒
Federer says Mirka has played a huge part in his success. Look at the facts, he says. “When I met her I had zero titles, today I have 88, so she’s been on this ride for the whole time.” He talks of her with tender pride: “She used to train five, six hours in a row. She was tough, and she taught me how to work.”
費德勒說他之所以成功，米爾卡對他幫助很大。事實擺在這兒，他說。“剛遇見她時我一個冠軍也沒有，現在我已經有88個了，所以我的奪冠之路都有她相伴。”說起米爾卡時，他帶著點小驕傲：“她過去常常連續訓練五六個小時。她很堅強，教會了我如何訓練。”
There is a conventional wisdom that natural talent gets you only so far: It takes elite performers 10,000 hours’ practice to fulfil their potential. Does this make Federer the exception to the rule? Has he achieved his success without putting in the hours?
有一個人所共知的道理，那就是光靠天賦你走不遠：精英運動員要用上萬個小時的練習去挖掘自己的潛能。費德勒的情況是例外嗎？他沒投入那麼多時間就取得了成功嗎？
God no, he says. He was always putting in the hours; just not necessarily in the right order and at the right time. Only when he put in Mirka-style stints (工作期限) did he start to fulfil his potential. Even then, his progress was hardly linear.
當然不是，他說。他一直在投入時間，只是時機和順序不一定對。直到他開始米爾卡模式的定額練習，他才開始發掘出自己的潛能。即使那樣，他的進步也並非一帆風順。
2015溫網八分之一決賽
In 2001, he made headlines by beating Sampras at Wimbledon and reaching the quarter-finals; he also got to the quarters in the French Open (法國網球公開賽), but the following year he was knocked out of both in the first round. “All of a sudden, people started to ask, where had the talent gone?”
2001年，他在溫網打敗桑普拉斯，進入1/4決賽，因此登上新聞頭條。當年他也進了法網的1/4決賽。但是接下來的一年，他在這兩項比賽中都是在第一輪就遭淘汰。“突然，人們開始質疑，我的天賦去哪兒了？”
In 2003, he finally broke through, beating Mark Philippoussis (馬克·菲力浦西斯，澳大利亞網球運動員) in the Wimbledon final in straight sets (盤，以輸贏局數決定單打或雙打比賽勝負的計數單位，一般勝六局為勝一盤), and over the next six years established himself as the greatest. There is barely a record Federer hasn’t broken: 10 consecutive grand slam finals, 23 consecutive semi-finals, 36 consecutive quarter-finals. He has spent 302 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, 237 consecutively. He is the only player to have won two grand slams five times consecutively—Wimbledon (2003~2007) and the US Open (2004~2008).
2003年，他終於取得突破，在溫網決賽連勝三盤擊敗馬克·菲力浦西斯。接下來的六年裡，他被公認為最強大的網球選手，他幾乎打破了所有紀錄：蟬聯十個大滿貫，連續23次殺進半決賽，連續36次進入1/4決賽。他排名世界第一的時間達到302周，其中237周是連續排名第一。他是唯一一個接連五次贏得溫網(2003~2007)和美網(2004~2008)這兩項大滿貫賽事冠軍的選手。
2017澳網男單冠軍
He is ranked fourth in Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, earning around $67m over the past year, $60m of that for appearance fees and endorsements. He has earned more than any tennis player in prize money alone: $98m.
他在《福布斯》全球最高薪運動員排行榜上位列第四，去年賺了大概6700萬美元，其中6000萬是出場費和廣告代言費。單是獎金收入他就超過了其他任何運動員：9800萬美元。
Unsurprisingly, there are endless rumours about his impending retirement, but he insists he has no plans. “I don’t want to say I’m enjoying it more, but it’s different. I have a deeper love for the game today. Before it was chasing the dream. Today it is living the dream and appreciating I can still do it. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
關於他即將退役的傳言不斷傳出，這並不令人意外，但他堅持說自己還沒這個打算。“我不想說自己比以前更享受打網球，但的確有所不同。我對這項運動愛得更深了。之前我是在追夢，如今我是在享受夢想。我還能打網球，對此我心懷感激。這是一種美妙的感覺。”
休息時的費德勒
So many fans thought that, as soon as he stopped bossing the game, he would just walk away.
很多粉絲認為，一旦費德勒不再稱霸網壇，他就會離開。
“Yes,” he says, “I’ve heard retirement [talk] since 2009 when I won the French Open and people were like, well, what else are you playing for? I’m like, what’s wrong with you people? Don’t you understand that playing tennis is great fun? I don’t need to win three slams a year to be content. If the body doesn’t want to do it, if the mind doesn’t want to do it, if my wife doesn’t want me to do it, if my kids don’t like it, I’ll stop tomorrow. Zero problem. But I love tennis in such a big way that I don’t care if I don’t win so much anymore. For me that is irrelevant.”
“是的，”他說，“從2009年我贏得法網時，就聽到過有關我退役的言論。人們會說，哎，你還圖什麼呢？而我覺得，你們這些人怎麼了？你們難道不知道打網球非常有趣嗎？我不需要一年贏三個大滿貫來獲得滿足感。如果我的身體不想打了，心裡不想打了，我妻子不想讓我打了，我的孩子不想讓我打了，那我明天就不打了。絕對沒問題。但我太愛網球了，不能再贏那麼多冠軍這件事我毫不在乎。對我來說，這不重要。”
If there’s one tournament he’d like to win again, what would it be? “Wimbledon,” he says instantly. “This is where my heroes—Becker (貝克爾，德國職業網球運動員), Edberg (埃德伯格，前瑞典職業網球運動員), Sampras—won. I won the juniors there in 1998, my first slam. I won all these unbelievable matches there. Wimbledon is the holy grail.”
如果他還想贏一次比賽，會是哪個比賽呢？“溫布頓，”他立馬答道，“那是我的偶像貝克爾、埃德伯格和桑普拉斯獲勝的地方。我1998年在那兒贏得了青少年比賽，那也是我贏得第一個大滿貫的地方。我所有精彩的比賽都是在那兒打的。溫布頓是我心中的聖杯。”