“And I play Steve Johnson in the first round, for those who are interested …” In memory of Roger Federer, we had rarely seen this before a Grand Slam tournament: eight questions in English (his press conferences are split in two games, in principle of equal duration, the first for the international press, the second for the Swiss media), and not one for tennis. The Balois emphasized this on Saturday with a smile that did not entirely mask the acid irony of the line.
Read also: In Melbourne: a tournament between two fires
Since the start of the year, Federer has been much more questioned about his status as an icon, the (moderate) use he makes of his potential megaphone in the fight against global warming and the carbon footprint of his sponsors than on the quality of his backhand play, and that’s starting to strain him. Especially when he is summoned to explain himself by a journalist, camera turning, pretending to be Elise Lucet, or stigmatized by a player, the Canadian Brayden Schnur who, on Twitter, described his media silence as “selfishness”, as well as that of Nadal, on January 14 during the peak of pollution.
“We did our job”
Rafael Nadal is also annoyed, but it is more common at home. “The person who criticized us corrected and I think it was appropriate,” said the Majorcan, who came a few hours after Federer to a press conference. As headliners, we may have a little more influence than the others on the tournament director, so I went to see him on Tuesday for an explanation. My job, I did it. ”Federer, who was training under the roof that day, made the same response. “I went to ask the management if it was dangerous or if it just looked dangerous. I told them to communicate better because we were in the dark. What else should I do? Go to the courts and stop the matches? ”
Only Novak Djokovic, the week before, ostensibly went further by thinking aloud about a possible postponement of the tournament. The Serb answered a question and acted in his capacity as president of the players’ council of ATP, but this initiative did not please Rafael Nadal, inevitably relaunched on the theme. “I don’t like to talk about subjects I don’t know,” grumbled the Spaniard. Suspend the tournament? But suspend it until when? Until there is no more smoke or until it is no longer dangerous? And to what limit is it dangerous? These are questions where I, as Rafa Nadal, have no opportunity to answer because I am not competent. ”
Roger Federer also responds by asking himself: “What can we do?” But we feel that the question is not rhetorical and that he is thinking about possible solutions. “My foundation is focused on education. But through education, we are touching the environment and it is entirely possible to intensify this aspect in the future. ”The favorable response given to climate activists fighting Credit Suisse (one of its sponsors) is perhaps a first step in this direction.
Finally read: How Roger Federer came out of his silence
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