That’s when Switzerland’s Roger Federer, then 19 years old, upset seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round. Federer had one ATP title to his name at the time, and the tennis world had been anticipating his rise. “It’s just not the way to go forward,” the 40-year-old Federer said in a released video. But Federer set the bar for how the best in the game needed to behave on and off the court at a time when the game really needed to sell itself. Federer could always engage, and he could almost always be interesting without having to be funny, smart-alecky, foul-mouthed or controversial.

Source: thestar August 15, 2021 22:18 UTC