Roger Federer reveals the best part about his trips to Africa
In an interview to CNN in Dubai, Roger Federer spoke about his Foundation that celebrates its 15th anniversary. It was December 2003 when the Swiss player's charitable activity came up and a lot of steps forward have been made since then, as the Foundation has now reached one million children. Roger loves and appreciates every one of his trips to Africa. 'I think being on the ground is the best part, to be honest', said Federer.
'Board meetings, you know, they are not the sexiest thing in the world but being on the ground and seeing the faces of the children and truly seeing the impact is really there, that the kids really have no idea who you are, last time when I was in Zambia, mid-way through this year I tried to explain to them that I was a tennis player and if they knew tennis. "Yes", and so you know tennis? "Yeah", they said, "The one with the racket and the table". I am like, "No, that's not tennis, that's table tennis". Tennis is different, we have bigger stadiums. So that's the starting point of a conversation, you realize that who you are doesn't really matter. I am not a tennis player, I am a philanthropist on the ground and this is what it hits me. This is wonderful.'
Federer also admitted he feels surprised with all his success in charity: 'When I was 20 years old I did not think I was gonna have such a platform, such an opportunity to give back, you are about other people doing incredible things but it's hard to grasp when you are young and your goal as a tennis player is to win Wimbledon and not to help children to have a better education in Southern Africa so for me it came really gradually naturally. I was really really much inspired by other great people in the world who did good.'
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2ShTlRI
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