Roger Federer idolized sportspersons from outside tennis too

What's the story?

In an interesting interview, Swiss legend Roger Roger Federer talked about who his sporting idols were when he was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s. Additionally, the tennis champion expressed what his biggest ambitions were when he was an up-and-coming tennis player.

In case you didn't know...

Federer is himself idolized the world over by fans, pundits and other athletes. Many of the NextGen players currently trying to make a name for themselves have expressed that Federer was their favourite player when growing up, and that he continues to inspire them to this day.

The heart of the matter

Federer told the interviewer that he had a number of inspirations while growing up.

"My idol growing up was Michael Jordan, next to Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. But Michael Jordan was my big idol. Of course, Mohammed Ali has been doing incredible things, as well as Tiger Woods," he said.

Michael Jordan

The Swiss tennis champion then explained his reasons for idolizing those sportspeople:

"They all did great things and they were people I looked up to, they are inspirations, seeing that they performed at the highest level for a long time, doing things that are not that normal."

Federer also talked about his aspirations when he was younger, telling the interviewer:

"A big, big goal of mine which I was able to achieve was to become World No. 1 because that’s not something that you do just in one week or two weeks."

Federer went on to hire Edberg, one of his idols, as his coach

What's next?

It is very interesting to hear from a sporting legend like Federer that he had such widely differing inspirations while growing up. Many of them, especially Ali and Jordan, are also considered the GOATs of their respective sports, and Federer could well go on to hold the same status in tennis by the time his career is over.