Roger Federer: The Greatest by Chris Bowers

Roger Federer: The Greatest Reviews

• 
  Akhil Jain

  My fav quotes (not a review):
  -Page 10 |
  "The remarkable thing is that both Robbie and Lynette are very short. Neither is more than 1.7m (5ft 7in), and for a while it was feared that any offspring of theirs couldn’t possibly grow tall enough to become a force on the tennis circuit. Yet, out of some genetic inheritance, Roger Federer has grown to 1.85m (6ft 1in)."
  
  -Page 41 |
  "Lynette is convinced that what got Roger through those first five months was the fact that he had made his own decision to go to Ecublens and hadn’t been pressured into it by his parents. ‘He had made the decision himself,’ says the mother who spent about an hour a night on the phone to her son in those early months, ‘and only became aware later of all the things that the decision brought with it. But because he wanted it himself, he was willing to battle through.’"
  
  -Page 80 |
  "The reaction to his defeat made him take a long, hard look at himself. ‘What made me upset was not just losing the match but my attitude,’ he said several years later. ‘I said there that I needed an attitude change. I remember thinking, “I never smash my racket after matches, only during matches.” And then I said, “That’s it, I’m not getting pissed off any more. I’m acting too bad.”’ And he was as good as his word. The attitude did change, almost too much at first. His on-court composure was almost Buddhist-like in the next handful of tournaments – he would hit great shots or make horrendous errors and show absolutely no reaction, merely stroll into position for the next point."
  
• 
  Hemant

  Shall wait for the official biography or autobiography
• 
  Brenda Greene

  I have followed Roger Federers career from the beginning, but certainly not with the breathless detail provided in Chris Bower's account. Chris says that he intends not to focus on the statistics and to show Roger's personality, warts and all, but that is almost the opposite of what he has done. We know Roger protects his personal life, and good on him, and this book is about his tennis, not his family or holidays, but Roger is not an emotionally remote person on the court or after matches. Chris' analysis are always with caveats that make this a hagiography, not a biography, and while there is much to admire about Federa, in Chris's eyes, he does little wrong. Even when Federal makes completely open comments about occasional poor play and attitude, Chris, reinterprets him in a glowing light. Occasionally there are insightful comments, but mostly it's inferred opinion. Some games are well described and brought back memories of Federa's absolute command of the court, which was a delight to watch. Certainly I couldn't wait to see him play live, at the Melbourne open in 2020, and was not disappointed.
  
  I'd always thought Federal played poorly at first to explore his opponent 's strengths which he could then pick apart, but Chris shows that Federas brilliant play comes from the heart, mind and body, in that order. That was an eye opener to me.
  
  When he falls in love with his wife to be Mirka, his play is slightly off, which is lovely, but never expanded upon by Chris. When his coach dies, his play is completely off and this is described well. The period where Federa had no coach has no good description, just opinion. The impact of injury is glossed over as par for the course. The birth of his twins barely gets amention.
  
  It's a long book, bogged in statistics and tennis detail which misses opportunities to explore motivation during major changes in Federas life, even when there is a rich source of recorded information during post match interviews.
  
  The Swiss temperament is briefly touched on as is psychology of talented whole court vs baseline players. Roger (and few other top players) conform to none of that, but no proper discussion ensues.
  
  I didn't know that Roger left school at 16 with a lot of financial support from his parents that few others could rely on. The comparison to Agassi could have been expanded as he, unlike Federa, did not choose tennis. This lead to all sorts of problems, many psychological, which is understandable, yet Federa too did not escape psychological challenges. This is another big gap in the book.
  
  As tennis expanded, coaching and players improved,media exposure increased along with rewards. All of this means that high achievement in sports requires a huge set of additional skills, none of which Federal had any prior experience. This is not discussed.
  
  Federa, of course,deserves every credit he has earned. He recognized when he needed an outside look in so he could be more strategic in his focus. It's a shame Chris didn't do the same.
  
  
• 
  Hetal Sonpal

  Good one.
  Great to read about one of my favourite sports idol and no. 1 in Tennis.
  Its interesting to go behind the scene and know:
  about Roger's growing up days,
  the gradual development for love for tennis (many people think he was born to be a tennis player),
  his temper issues early on his career (people think he was always calm and composed as he looks now),
  his experience playing for Switzerland, the hits and misses in Davis cup matches and the olympics,
  the emergence of his rivalry with Nadal and the tiff with Novak early on in their career
  the ascendancy to the no. 1 position,
  donning the GOAT (greatest of all time) tag and then being challenged on the same by Nadal (the book does not cover the part where Novak had also entered the race).
  Since this covers his career only till 2010, its not complete in that sense.
  Hence already started reading another masterclass on Roger, The Master by Christopher Carey. Watch this space for more!!
• 
  Abhijeeth Reddy

  This edition of the book is before the season of 2017 and has Federer at 17 titles still waiting for that elusive 18. Now that it is out of the way, it adds even more value to the whole story - not that Roger's achievements would be any less without #18.
  The book looks at Roger's childhood and the general scene in Swiss tennis at the time of his growth and through the years with emphasis on the Davis Cup.
  The rivalry between Roger and Rafa is explored in detail and marks Rafa for the great he is.
  While the book idolizes Roger, as is expected, it doesn't shy from pointing out his flaws and thus makes up for a more complete and neutral view.
  The only shortcomings are the lack of more pictures and I feel Novak and Andy are a bit under emphasized.
  Other than that, justice to the GOAT.
  
• 
  Bobby Moore

  To say that I'm a big Roger Federer fan, for the people that know and love me, would hardly scratch the surface. But, as I'm writing this review, I'm looking around my office at a framed picture, signed tennis rackets, United States open signed tennis balls, etc. okay, I'm a groupie!
  
  So take this review with a pronounced grain of salt; I enjoyed it very much gave me some insights that I was previously unaware of and if you are a fed fan, go for it
• 
  Vira Tanka

  I rarely read biographies and this one is my first unauthorized biography. I don’t like it. The facts are questionable and it’s just like the author is gathering info from here and there but not from the star, not even from the family of the star. And there’s too much additional info about people surrounding Federer that I don’t feel necessary, they’re there just to make the book have more pages. This will be my last time reading an unauthorized biography :(
• 
  Metin

  Boring! Just a bunch of copy-paste from sport articles and looong uninspired recount of tennis matches. It��s a shame how much time I spent trying to extract some minuscule interesting information from this horrible book. Shame!!
• 
  Fabio

  Non rende goustizia al fuoriclasse di Federer. La Biografia Open di Agassi molto piu bella
• 
  Giedrius Padriezas

  I wanted some inspiration as I started learning to play tennis on a regular basis and this was quite a great segway to collect it from the outside of the game. This was a pleasureable read.
  
  Roger Federer is a surefire candidate to be considered as 'G.O.A.T.' in tennis. His skill on a court as well as human traits are the one to be followed by anybody aspiring to be a professional athlete. This applies to ammateurs as well. A blend of talent, discipline and ability to play the right way with a proper care of the body, is what makes Roger the flagman of the 'now' passing generation of the tennis players, including Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian and others.
  
  I lacked something that would be negative on him as a person. Besides the fact that he was a little reckless during his teenage years (who wasn't?) and his continuous struggles against Nadal, this seemed like a portrait of a perfect man.
• 
  Shweta Ramkumar

  I wss left quite disappointed with the structure, content and the writing style that was supposed to honour the life and career of my all time favourite sportsman Roger Federer. It seemed to be merely an endless collection of statistics, eloquent and somewhat unnecessary descriptions of each of his key matches and the tone was very impersonal and lacked any genuine respect or admiration from the author. I am really looking forward to the day when Roger releases his own autobiography where he will hopefully highlight the emotions and challenges he personally experienced in his career and personal life.
• 
  Bernardo Llaguno

  Great book about the tennis life of the greatest player in time Roger Federer. You can learn about all his accomplishments and failures during his career up to 2010. There are still tales missing from then to now. I enjoyed learning about the life and training of athletes and what goes in their life.
• 
  Nassos

  It was a very compelling book, appropriate of the biographee's grandour. Without being too exhaustive on details of Roger's life Chris manages to capture the key moments in the Fed-Express career providing us with the full picture of the life of this great individual.
• 
  Mrinalini

  I enjoyed reading all the minute details in Roger's life. Some took me by surprise. Needless to say respect for this man has increased multifold.
  
  Though, I feel 'Rafa' (book about Nadal) had more of godly image of Federer. This book shows he is human afterall and very relatable :)
  
• 
  Jeanette

  Captures all the key moments in Rogers life, but without the emotion and feeling that would come from the opportunity to interview roger directly. Cannot wait for his eventual autobiography which surely must come.
  
• 
  BraS

  good facts, sometimes confusing when comes to dates