Chapter 2 Prologue: Meeting a Fifteen-Year-Old Boy

It was September 11, 1996, and I had been assigned by the Daily Herald to write a story about the World Junior Cup; an event similar to the Davis Cup for junior players, and it happened to be in our paper Headquarters in Zurich.At the beginning, I was quite suspicious. Who would be interested in this kind of report about a team competition played by those unknown 15- or 16-year-old players?I see this reporting as a chore, and I have to "thank you" for the Swiss Tennis Federation, which, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, offered to host the tournament that year.Alas, this certainly won't be an interesting reporting assignment.

It was also the day I met Roger Federer for the first time, playing on an outfield surrounded by barbed wire.I was told by Swiss Tennis Federation officials that Federer was a pretty good teenage player; apart from being too bad-tempered at times, he was beyond reproach.At the age of 15, he had not yet reached the age standard to participate in the competition, but he already had an astonishing qualifications - he has won five Swiss junior championship titles and became a member of the Swiss Under-16 age group. The best player even has a national ranking of 88th. Federer's opponent that day was an Italian teenager named Nohuel Fracassi; I haven't heard from him since the match against Federer.Fracassi was a year older than Federer, taller and stronger; when I arrived, he had already won the first set.The atmosphere of the game is like a casual club game that is not that important. There are only three or four spectators and a referee. There are no ball boys, so the players have to pick up the ball themselves.However, I was immediately drawn to Federer's elegant style of play.I've seen a lot of players in my 15 years as a tennis reporter, but it's clear that a remarkable talent looms before me.He could hit the ball with such ease that his Italian opponents could only watch the ball fly past him time and time again, even on the slow clay courts he was good at.Almost silently, he delivers scoring shots with his black racquet and moves around the court with speed and grace, his strokes coordinated and brilliant.

The contrast between Federer's maturity and his behavior on the court is stark.What a bad temper he was!On this September afternoon, his temper would explode over the slightest blunder.On a few occasions, he threw his racket far off the court in anger; he almost never stopped beating himself up, shouting at himself "stupid" or "stupid!" , he would even loudly blame himself after winning a run because he wasn't happy with the bat. He seems oblivious to everything going on around him, it's just him, the tennis ball, the racket - and, yes, his violent temper.In such a high-pressure atmosphere, he fought himself even more than his opponent across the net on this day.This double torture pushed him to the limit and I guess he would end up losing the match despite his technical superiority.I was wrong, Federer won 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

I later found out that Federer had won another tough three-set match a day earlier from a tenacious Australian teenager named Lleyton Hewitt, escaping a match point and finishing with 4 Won 6, 7-6 and 6-4.The match between Federer and Hewitt was played in front of about 30 spectators who bought tickets for the day, as well as four fans who bought season tickets for the event.At the time, no one would have known that these two teenagers would eventually become two great players - both ranked No. Perform in front of a television audience. I wanted to know more about Federer, so I scheduled an interview with him.He surprised me yet again as he sat at the wooden table across from me in the gym locker room.I worried that the young man would be so reticent by the presence of an unfamiliar face in a national newspaper that he would be unable to say anything useful or capable of being quoted by me.But that's not the case at all. With a mischievous smile, Federer has been expressing himself smoothly and confidently.He explained that his idol is Sampras, who has been training for a year at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens, on the shores of Lake Geneva.He also said he was perhaps one of the 30 or 40 best players in the world in his age group, and he wanted to be a top professional; of course, he had to improve his technique - and his attitude.

"I understand that I can't always complain and yell because that hurts me and makes me play worse," he said. "Although mistakes are normal, it is always difficult for me to forgive myself for any mistakes." Looking far away, he almost said to himself: "People should play perfect tennis." Playing perfect tennis -- that's what drives him.He doesn't just want to beat his opponents and win titles, though he admits he's open to fame and fortune as well.But for him, instinctively, the journey as a player meant hitting the ball and getting the ball into the perfect spot on the court with the racket.He seems obsessed with the idea, which explains why he gets frustrated after scoring points; he doesn't want to dominate in this rectangular court with a net in the middle, he wants to dominate Let him love and hate tennis.

Federer's World Junior Cup victories were in vain, and Switzerland, without a strong second singles player and experienced doubles duo, finished 15th.Roger Federer won, but Switzerland lost - a scenario that would repeat itself many times in future Davis Cup tournaments.Still, the irascible teenager was praised by Australia's coach Darren Cahill, a former U.S. Open semi-finalist who was then Lleyton Hewitt at the World Junior Cup. "He already has all the abilities to be successful on the professional tour in the future." Cahill said. By the time I got back to the office, I had gathered enough material to write a good story.This is my first report on Roger Federer, and it will certainly be far from my last.The title of that report was - "People should play perfect tennis".