Chapter 4 Chapter 1 From Campden Park to Basel

(From Kempton Park to Basel) The village of Berneck is located in the St. Gall Rhine valley in the northeast corner of Switzerland. The famous Foehn wind blows through the foothills of the Alps. The local residents speak a vulgar German dialect. The villagers feel Across the Rhine, Austria and its province of Vorarlberg feel closer than to major Swiss cities such as Zurich, Bern and Geneva.Just a few kilometers to the north, the Rhine flows into Lake Constance, the waters that form the borders of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Roger's father, Robert, grew up in Bernac, the son of a weaver and a housewife.He left his hometown at the age of 20 and followed the Rhine River to Basel, a border city in the triangle of Switzerland, Germany and France, where the Rhine turns north and flows out of Switzerland.Basel is home to some of the most important chemical companies in the world, and a young chemical laboratory technician, Robert Federer, landed his job at one of the world's leading chemical companies, Ciba, Switzerland. First job.

After living in Basel for four years, Robert Federer's heart once again fell into the impulse of wandering. He decided to immigrate in 1970 and left Switzerland completely.His choice of South Africa was partly by coincidence, but also because of formalities; among other reasons, he was able to obtain immigrant visas from the country still ruled by apartheid with relative ease.Another coincidence was that he found a new job at the same company as his in Switzerland, Ciba.The chemical company is located in Campton Park at the International Airport outside Johannesburg, along with several other foreign companies.

It was at Campton Park that he met Lynette Durand, a secretary at Ciba.Her extended family who lived on the farm spoke Afrikaans from Dutch — she had three siblings, her father was a foreman and her mother was a doctor — but Lynette went to an English school , her original intention was to save a sum of money as soon as possible to travel to Europe.She would most like to go to England, where her father was stationed during World War II. Robert Federer is a humble and steady young man who usually hides in the background. He is used to watching and listening quietly first, and then manipulating things to move in the direction he wants.He is not tall, with a huge nose and two distinctive moustache.He's quick, athletic, funny, unassuming and unbiased, and nothing reveals his personality more than when he smiles with his eyes squinted and his bushy eyebrows raised high.Though amiable, he also knew how to defend himself when offended; he was resolute and practical, and, as one female portrait painter once described him, he could be "as sharp as a bear's bite."

Lynette, a beautiful 18-year-old secretary with penetrating eyes, quickly won over Robert Federer when the two first met in the company cafeteria in 1970, and they met and eventually became a couple.Robert took Lynette to the Swiss Club in Johannesburg and introduced her to his new hobby - tennis.The young girl who used to play hockey quickly fell in love with the game and started training regularly.The lovers enjoyed a wonderful time in South Africa, with apartheid barely affecting them. Robert Federer still can't explain why they moved back to Switzerland in 1973. "It feels like a migratory bird," he said.When he returned to Basel, he often asked himself why he didn't stay in South Africa, especially when his lover was struggling with the small size of Switzerland and the limited views of the local people. "Fortunately, people can always adapt to the environment quickly." She said.The couple married and welcomed a daughter, Diana, in 1979. Twenty months later, Lynette Federer gave birth to a baby boy at the State Hospital in Basel on the morning of August 8, 1981.He was named Roger because the name is also easy to pronounce in English.Even within the first few hours of his life, Roger's parents felt that giving their son an easy-to-pronounce name in English would ultimately benefit him.

Federer's surname was already fairly well known in Bernac before 1800, but it's actually a very uncommon clan surname in Switzerland.The most famous “Federer” of all time was Heinrich Federer, the priest-turned-poet who died in 1928. In 1966, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, Switzerland issued a postage stamp in his honor. In the 1970s, Robert and Lynette Federer, who continued to work at Ciba in Switzerland, sponsored a tennis club in Allschwil, a suburb of Basel, and Federer quickly became active.Lynette showed great talent, her biggest triumph coming as a team member in the 1995 Swiss Club Championship.She was an avid tennis player and soon became the club's children's coach.She was later also involved in the organization of the ATP's Swiss Indoor Championships in Basel, providing services in the media accreditation office.

Robert Federer is also a devoted tennis fan and a regionally ranked amateur.He and his wife later spent more time on the golf course, but back then, tennis still came first.Lynette often took his son to the tennis courts, and Roger Jr. was fascinated by those tennis fans at an early age. "Even when he was only one and a half years old, he could play tennis for hours on end," recalls his mother.His skill was unmistakable: he was able to catch those big tennis balls when he could barely walk.Roger Jr. hit the ball over the net for the first time at the age of three and a half. By the age of four, he had been able to play twenty or thirty rounds in a row. "His coordination is unbelievable," his father laments.

The Federer family is neither rich nor poor, and can be regarded as a standard Swiss middle-class family.Roger grew up in a villa with a yard in a quiet neighborhood called Wasserhaus in the town of Munchenstein on the outskirts of Basel.Ambitious and impulsive, he is not an easy kid to deal with. "Failing was a complete disaster for him, even in board games," recalls his dad.In general, he was a "friendly guy," but "when he didn't like something, he became very aggressive." He would throw dice and chessboards around the living room from time to time. Even as a kid, his mother said, he was always doing what he wanted and pushing the envelope, whether it was with his teachers at school, his parents or various sports. "He's got a lot of energy and a lot of energy, but he's also very difficult at times," Lynette said.When he was forced to do something he didn't like, he reacted quite violently; sometimes, when his father gave him instructions on the tennis court, Roger would not even look at him.

Roger was a very popular boy, always friendly, well-behaved, not arrogant - and very athletic.He has tried skiing, wrestling, swimming and skateboarding, but ball games have always fascinated him. He has played football, handball, basketball, table tennis, tennis and even used a neighbor's fence as a ball when he was at home. Net badminton.Even on the way to school, he always has a ball with him.One of his idols is Michael Jordan of the NBA team Chicago Bulls.He spends every minute of his free time outdoors, and sitting quietly in a classroom and concentrating on his studies is not his specialty; he is not exactly a student with high ambitions, and his academic performance is only average That's all.

Robert and Lynette were the ideal parents for a kid like Roger who was an avid sports fan.They let him run as he pleases and never forced him to do anything. "He has to keep moving or he becomes unbearable," Lynette said.She and her husband made it very important for Roger to try different sports. They took him to a local football club called Concordia Basel (Concordia Basel) early on, so that he could learn to get along with his teammates. And be a team player. However, his mother refused to teach his son how to play tennis. "I don't think I'm good enough, and he's definitely going to upset me anyway," she said. Ball. That's no fun for a mother."

So Roger hit the outside of the house, the garage door, the walls in his room and even the cabinet doors for hours on end. The pictures on the walls and the dishes in the house were no longer safe. Even his sister The room was not spared either.Roger now has to admit: "Sometimes I break things." Diana can't stand her brother, but she is forced to put up with her mischievous brother's outrageous behavior. "When I was with my friends, he would come up and yell, and when I was on the phone, he would pick up the receiver and make trouble," Diana said. Little devil."

Like every gifted sibling, it wasn't easy for Diana to live in her brother's shadow.Whenever the family was out, Roger was increasingly the center of attention.Lynette took her aside once and said, "Diana, it doesn't make any difference to you or to your mother—" She told her daughter: "People talk to me, but the conversation always revolves around your brother." Diana is an aspiring nurse who only occasionally watches her brother play.For example, at the Shanghai Masters in 2005, she and her mother left the stadium midway through the match just to catch a flight to South Africa for vacation.Diana is proud of her brother but would rather not live in the spotlight nor pay close attention to every detail of his tennis career.She didn't even know it was Berdych when she watched Roger play Czech player Tomas Berdych at the Swiss Indoors in Basel in 2005, at the Athens Olympics a year earlier An upset defeat to her brother, extinguishing his Olympic medal dreams.