Roger Federer Articulates His Thoughts on Comparing Children With One Another

Published 10/03/2019, 2:33 PM EDT

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World Number three, Roger Federer landed in Shanghai for the Masters tournament on Wednesday and he interacted with kids during the Wilson Meet Roger 2019 event. A ten-year-old boy asked the Swiss legend whether Federer’s parents compared him to other kids when he was growing up. The kid who interrogated Roger kid faces it all the time.

In an apt manner, Federer articulated his words from the perspective of a parent. Him being a father of ten-year-old twin girls, the comparisons amongst the children goes on constantly, but he feels comparing children with one another should be avoided.

“Well, I can speak on behalf of being a dad to ten-year-old girls at the moment. It’s true you compare children with one another. My girls are ten and they are identical, of course, you would naturally compare to one another. But, I don’t think you should do it all the time,” said Roger Federer.

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As a child, Federer focused on improving his tennis skills by drawing inspiration from others. He endeavored to have a better skill-set than other players, and from a very tender age, the Swiss maestro primarily focused on becoming the ‘Mr. Perfect’.

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“I don’t remember how it was when I was young, but of course, I would see another player, see how great their forehand, footwork and etc. I was trying to be a perfectionist when I was younger and that I got incredibly frustrated,” Federer added.

Federer believes if today you are better than your yesterday’s self and focusing on becoming the best version of your own self, and you will go a long way in life.

“I think, in the end you have to come back to basics and just tell yourself, I think I’m going to be the best I could be. If you are better than somebody else, that’s great, if not then I know, I did the best that I could. It’s not easy when you are younger. When your parents tell you, ‘oh you see the others’, that is all normal and in the end, the parents want the best for you,” said Federer.

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The draw for the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2019 will be unveiled on Friday, 10.30 am local time.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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