Roger Federer's first coach shares on Swiss' 6-0, 6-0 loss in 1st match
In an interview to Tennis Italiano, Roger Federer's first tennis coach Madelein Barlocher of the Old Boys tennis club in Basel recalled when the Swiss player, in August 1991, lost to the 13-year-old Reto Schmidli 6-0, 6-0. Federer was just ten years old at the time and he was not as solid as now mentally. "Roger wanted to play a tournament so badly, he felt the need to play a match, but it was probably too early. At the end of the match he was angry with himself, but he soon overcame it," Barlocher said.
Recalling that match, Federer said: "In truth, I think I did not play that bad. I played my match, I lost 6-0 6-0 and I left the court without being too disappointed."
According to Barlocher, the little Roger was a very bad loser: "After every loss, he was sitting on a bench and he (would) cry. Sometimes he was doing it even for half an hour: it may happen that his opponent had taken a shower and ate while he was still on court crying."
Schmidli too confirmed Federer had ups and down. "At the time, Roger had a good arm, a good touch, but I only thought about winning the match. I did not think about giving him a discount, not even giving him one game."
The British TV presenter Bear Grylls confirmed Federer told him that he lost his first match ever 6-0, 6-0.
Federer won the Dubai and Miami Open this year. He will next play the Mutua Madrid Open.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Idssx7
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