The day Roger Federer couldn’t stop laughing at CNN correspondent’s Spanish phrases was a day when the tennis star’s world changed.
The world lost a tennis great on the same day it gained a great reporter.
A reporter who didn’t give a toss about Roger Federer’s tennis prowess and was there to ask about a story.
The reporter – one of a dozen CNN reporters from around the world who met up in Madrid last October for an online version of the network’s “Live from Madrid” series – was more about getting a story, and a scoop, than talking to a tennis star about his play.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a reporter get the information he needed for a story about the Spanish Open,” John McEnroe, the former world number two tennis player and CNN commentator, told ESPN.
And it was a story and a scoop that proved to be the perfect antidote to Federer’s winning streak.
“It was one of the most fun stories I’ve ever encountered on CNN and one of the most fun stories I have ever encountered on CNN,” McEnroe said. “You just have to tell it like it is sometimes.”
Roger Federer could be the most fun person to spend time with on a tennis court. The world no 1, who is known more for his ability to destroy opponents than the actual tennis, is also a brilliant human being with a mind like a sponge.
And now he can be made fun of.
In interviews with The Associated Press, Federer has been asked many times why he’s been so popular with fans during his three-year reign as the world’s No. 1 tennis player.
Federer, who turns 30 on Saturday, says he doesn’t want to be made fun of. He says: “Of course I want to be loved by people, but I can’t please everybody”
And he can’t please some fans as Federer has not been able to capture their interest for long enough during his decade-long run atop the sport.
Federer is on an 11-match winning streak and has been on the verge of his best run to date on the ATP tour as he has won 12 out of 16 matches in the past two weeks.
In the first set of Sunday’s final at the Madrid Open, a 6-3, 6-2 win for the Swiss, his sixth consecutive win, he came