The Olympic Games did not provide a stage that defined Roger Federer’s iconic career, but he claimed the most precious prize of them all in Sydney 24 years ago.
Federer has an Olympic gold medal on his remarkable CV from his win in the men’s doubles alongside Stan Wawrinka Beijing Games in 2008.
He was also a silver medalist after he was beaten by Great Britain’s Andy Murray in the final of London 2012, yet his biggest win came at an Olympics that saw him narrowly miss out on a medal of any colour.
Back in 2000, a teenage Federer was playing his first Olympics for Switzerland and he made impressive progress in the tournament, making it all the way through to the semi-final and within touching distance of a medal.
A semi-final defeat against Germany’s Tommy Haas ended that dream and his disappointment was multiplied when he lost a tight bronze medal match against France’s Arnaud Di Pasquale.
Yet when Federer looks back on Sydney, all his memories are golden as this is where he got to know the woman who was so important to him throughout his life.
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Miroslava ‘Mirka’ Vavrincova was four years older than Federer when he was blown away by the beauty of a young Swiss player who was to become his wife.
“We were both playing for Switzerland in tennis and then we spent two weeks together in those dorms,” recalled Federer. “We were together with the wrestlers and all the other cool athletes. I guess over the two weeks, we built up some chemistry.”
Federer was still very much at the formative stage of his career in Sydney 24 years ago, with the glories that lay ahead of him hard to imagine as he took his first tentative steps in the game.
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Yet finding Mirka was so important to give him the stability off the court that gave him the platform to thrive on it.
“I hadn’t won any titles yet, so she’s been with me almost every step of the way,” he recalls.
“She has helped me a lot in difficult moments and has played a very important role in keeping me motivated.
“She also taught me what discipline is, because she is incredibly disciplined; I was more the player, the performer, so to speak, and I needed to be guided in that aspect.
“Obviously, she also worked very hard in the second part of my career with the kids (the couple now have four children) making everything work as we travelled on the Tour; the logistics were crazy and she’s been incredible in that regard.”
Roger Federer and Mirka Federer
Roger Federer and Mirka Federer
Mirka’s presence in the Federer success story has merely been visual, as she was an ever-present in is players’ box for his biggest wins, but she didn’t speak to the media during her husband’s career.
She broke that habit for the compelling Amazon documentary Twleve Final Days, which chronicled Federer’s final days as a professional.
An emotional Mirka spoke on camera about her journey with Roger and got emotional on several occasions as she looked back at his story.
“I will miss seeing him play tennis,” she said.
“Just because he plays so gracefully and so incredible. I think people will miss the same.
“I’m just so happy to live with him and be with him. I’m going to always be there for him. Yeah, so excited that I found him in my life.”
Tennis365 spoke to Twelve Final Days co-director Joe Sabia, as he gave us the inside story on how the interview with Mirka became a reality.
“We had just filmed Roger reading the draft of the retirement announcement that he was going to make the next day and his kids just arrived,” Sabia told Tennis365.
“Mirka was there and I think that there was an understanding that because we were making a home video, why don’t we just have Mirka sit down in front of the camera, even though no one is ever going to see it.
“I asked some mundane questions about what it meant to see Roger go through retirement and I think the emotion got to her.
“It says so much that she became so emotional for a home video that was never going to see the light of day.
“It showed you what the atmosphere was like, not just for Roger, but for the people close to him to know that it’s all way this way of life.
“This entire lifestyle of Mirka going to every match and supporting him. You know, they did this as a family and Roger never did this alone. You really feel that in the way that she cares for him and cries with him not, you know, not separately.
“It just feels like there’s such a unity to them going through this and their experience.”
The Roger and Mirka love story is one of the great romances in tennis history and it all started at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.