Roger Federer never attended college but was given the honor by Dartmouth University to deliver the commencement speech for the Class of 2024. During the 25-minute long speech, Federer highlighted two words and expressed his dissatisfaction with the same – ‘Retired’ & ‘Effortless’.
Roger Federer has been associated with the word ‘retired’ since many years this decade. While talking to the graduating students, the Swiss legend explained how he despised the word. Instead, the 20-time Grand Slam champion claimed that he “graduated” from the sport, like the students at the university.
“I never went to college, but I did graduate recently – I graduated tennis. I know the word is retire. Roger Federer retired from tennis. Retired, the word is awful. You wouldn’t say you retired from college, right? It sounds terrible,” Federer was quoted as saying in his speech.
Roger also tried making the students feel much more confident in their future plans by stating that he himself wasn’t aware of his next move in life. By disclosing that he now drives his kids to work, plays online chess, and helps around with the chores, Federer is evidently living a humble post-retirement life.
“Like you, I finished one big thing and I’m moving on to the next. Like you, I’m figuring out what that is. Graduates, I feel your pain. I know what it’s like when people keep asking what your plan is for the rest of your life. They ask me, “Now that you are not a professional tennis player, what do you do?” I don’t know, and it’s okay not to know. So what do I do with my time? I’m a dad first, so I guess I drive my kids to school, I play chess online against strangers, I vacuum the house… I’m loving the life of a tennis graduate,” Federer added.
‘Effortless’ is another word that Federer has now been fed up with listening. Over the past 20+ years, Roger has heard numerous adjectives from people to describe his game. While it may seem that effortless is used to praise him, the 42-year-old expressed his aversion to the word. In a single sentence, he encapsulated the fact that hard work, hunger, and self-belief need to be in unison for a player to seem “effortless” to the public.
“Effortless is a myth, as we heard, it’s only a point. Life is bigger than the court,” Roger gave a lesson.
Roger Federer seems like the perfect individual to give a commencement speech to 2024’s graduating class. Considering that he’s also retired, or as he calls it ‘graduated’, Federer helped youngsters with insights into a new chapter of life by using lessons that he learned by playing tennis for more than two decades.
Apart from the youth, this motivating speech could also benefit Amazon Prime Video in a big way.
For 25 minutes, Roger Federer had an entire batch of students pay complete attention to him. His touching words would surely have had a huge impact. Hence, with the video going viral on social media, it won’t be surprising if there is a rise in the search for Roger Federer videos amongst the American youth.
Amazon is releasing their documentary made on Federer on Prime Video on June 20. Considering that the feature-length documentary is going to have iconic moments from the celebrity’s distinguished life, it should receive a great reaction from the above-mentioned demographic.
