The new documentary focusing on the last 12 days of Roger Federer’s career (can be viewed on Amazon Prime) is a must watch for all tennis AND sports fans.
The 87 minute showpiece directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia recaps every element of this period and does a superb job showcasing how tough it is for athletes to retire from sport.
The first part of it tells the story of the days before he made his retirement announcement.
It explains how stressful the decision was to put his thoughts into words and publish it.
For Federer - the twilight years of his career coincided with multiple knee injuries and surgeries that forced him off the tour for a large part.
This doco does a terrific job in explaining the impact on his wife Mirka and himself mentally.
He admits that he would never have tried to return to professional tennis if he knew that he had to endure 4 different surgeries within a 2 year period.
Federer also says the last moments of his final loss to Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon in 2021 was “one of the worst moments of his career” and that his family knew it was time.
The impact of these injuries and subsequent periods of forced recovery gives a great insight into how tough it is to remain at the top for so long AND that no-one is immortal.
His rivalries with Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal also receive a mention.
The most interesting thing to note here is that the 20 time major champion actually admits to not giving enough respect to Djokovic when he first arrived on the ATP tour.
You do then see that by the end - both Federer and Djokovic have a mutual respect for each other and are happy to have shared the world stage for so long - despite their differences.
The friendship between the Swiss and Rafael Nadal is also a major talking point.
We see again - an incredible amount of respect and admiration between the two legends AND how rivals can be friends.
This is again very evident through Federer asking Nadal to play doubles with him - in his FINAL ever match in a professional setting at the Laver Cup in 2022.
Then of course - the documentary takes us through the final weekend of his career at the Laver Cup.
We see the emotion, respect and sentimentality between all of the Big 4 playing in a tournament setting together for the final time in a truly brilliant way.
The fact that we as fans can see one of the greatest champions in world sport be sent off in style AND see some behind the scenes footage of him with his team after the match is absolutely brilliant.
Overall - if you are a sports fan, do yourself a favour and definitely give this a watch!
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