At 37 years of age and 101 titles under his belt, Roger Federer is considered as one of the best athletes in history. The Maestro is an icon around the world and, obviously, in Switzerland. However, there is strong resistance in renaming the St Jakobshalle Arena even after Roger won the prestigious ATP500 event in that specific venue 9 times.
Roger Federer may not have the St Jakobshalle arena renamed after him
Martina Bernasconi is the one that is backing the idea of renaming the Arena, but she acknowledges that there is rather strong opposition for that to comment
“The main arguments have been that Switzerland and Basel only honor dead people. And that Federer is a brand and he wants money.
He is the most popular ambassador of Switzerland. Because he speaks the Basel dialect, people have a high identification with him.
He was Born in Basel and lived 16 years in this town, visited the school and his first tennis club was Old Boys Basel. He married here and his parents live in Basel.
All over the world, he is well known, so he is really popular, not only as a sportsman.”
So, is it fair that the Arena will be named after Roger?
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