Roger Federer has conquered the heart of millions of fans all over the world not only with his fantastic tennis and amazing results but also and especially for his personality. The world no.4 has always stayed humble during his career and Sameer Kumar couldn’t refrain from writing a letter to thank the Maestro for the last time they had a hit at the US Open.

Roger Federer and his hitting session with Sameer Kumar

Last year at the US Open, Sameer had the pleasure of being the hitting partner for the players that were competing during the American slam. Kumar shared the court with the likes of Belinda Bencic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. He got thrilled by the news that he was scheduled to hit with Novak Djokovic, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen as the world no.1 eventually decided to have a session with Grigor Dimitrov.

Sameer got quite lucky and his disappointment quickly disappeared when he learned that he had the chance to play with his idol: Roger Federer.

The American-Indian was struck by how cordial Federer was with him also after the session to say:

“He asked me about my college tennis days, as he knew my coach from when he played pro tennis. He asked me about my job and about how I liked living in NYC. I was amazed at the normalcy of conversation I was having with one of the greatest athletes in the world, as if he was an old time friend genuinely interested in my life.”

The second and third session with Federer

Kumar’s luck didn’t stop there as Roger Federer asked him to hit for the second time in a private court that had the same surface as the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The American was even more surprised during this session as Roger looked even more relaxed, telling funny stories and having fun with his kids.

“He took his time in getting warmed up, laughing and joking around, playing with his kids, and starting with some soccer and mini tennis games against his coaches and I. Even when we started to hit for real, Roger was much more relaxed, often stopping practice to tell a funny story (some about his fellow players which was interesting), check his phone, make a joke with his coaches, or check on his kids.”

Finally, Kumar had a hit with Federer also for a third time at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He was once more struck by the popularity of the Swiss Maestro to say:

“He constantly has fans and media watching every one of his moves, and even a simple practice session involves thousands of people watching him and hours of interview requests from the media, all of which makes it hard to relax and truly be himself. He mentioned that the night before, he finished his night match around 1 am, but didn’t leave the grounds until close to 4 am due to all the interviews.”

Finally, the youngster wrote a thank you letter to his idol for his wonderful experience to write:

“As I think back to growing up on the emotional roller coaster that was being a Fed fan, or all the time I spent training and competing inspired to one day be like Roger, or the passion for tennis and ability to overcome all its challenges I learned from watching him, or the experience of meeting and playing with my idol, all I can really say is ‘Thank you Roger!’”

 

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Roger Federer in 2020

Currently ranked no.4, Roger played his last match on the 30th of January when he surrendered to Novak Djokovic 7-61 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the Australian Open.

Roger Federer’s most significant accomplishment of the current year was getting to the semi-finals at the Australian Open.