Roger Federer’s simple career mantra wowed Golden State Warriors — Steve Kerr saw the same secret in Steph Curry’s quest for greatness
Roger Federer receives a Hall of Fame ring at the US Open. (AP photo) Roger Federer’s career has been built on numbers that seem almost incomprehensible.Twenty Grand Slam titles. One hundred and three trophies at the tourist level. Three hundred and ten weeks as world number one, including 237 consecutive weeks at the top. Five consecutive US Open titles from 2004 to 2008, a record that remains intact in the Open Era.But when the Swiss great was asked years ago by a group of Golden State Warriors players how he managed to maintain his extraordinary level for so long, his answer had remarkably little to do with the usual language of sports greatness.Not to mention they all work. No big talk about sacrifice. No obsession with being better than the next player. Instead, Federer talked about something much more mundane: his daily routine and the joy he found in it.That anecdote has stuck with Warriors coach Steve Kerr ever since.
Federer’s remarkable career in perspective
Federer, 45, was officially inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on August 29 in Newport, Rhode Island. A few days later, he returned to New York to receive his Hall of Fame ring at Arthur Ashe Stadium and spend time around the US Open, the tournament where he set one of the toughest records in modern tennis.Federer won five consecutive US Open titles between 2004 and 2008. He remains the only player, male or female, to win five straight titles in New York during the Open Era.Yet one of the most revealing stories about his approach to longevity came not from a Grand Slam Finals or a record-setting season, but from an interview with the Warriors during their 2017 trip to China.
Question from Draymond Green
Federer was in Shanghai for the Masters tournament when the Warriors invited him to address the team.Kerr later recalled how Draymond Green asked the 20-time grand slam champion a question that seemed to elicit a standard response about tireless work and sacrifice.“I’ll tell you a great story about Roger Federer. We played in China with the Warriors in 2017. Roger was in Shanghai for the Masters, so we invited him to talk to the team.”“Draymond Green asked him, ‘How do you maintain success? How do you win majors 20 years after you first won them?’ Everybody expected him to say, ‘I work harder than everybody,’ will, all those clichés.”Instead, Federer talked about getting up in the morning, making the kids breakfast, taking them to school and then going to practice.
Roger Federer and Mirka Federer (Getty Images)
Federer’s answer was surprisingly simple
“Roger Federer says, ‘Every morning I get up and make breakfast for my kids. Then I take them to school and drop them off. Then I go to practice tennis for about two hours and I’ve come up with a really good routine where I don’t break my body but get all the work I need.’And then came the line Kerr remembered most.“‘Then I go to lunch with my wife. In the evening we cook dinner together. All the kids are home from school. We ask them about school. There’s so much joy at home. We put them to bed and then I put my head on the pillow and say, ‘Man, that was just a great day.’ And I’ve been doing this for 20 years.”For Kerr, the news was startling because Federer reduced the mystery of sustained excellence to something that sounded almost deceptively simple.“And it was like yeah. That’s it. That’s the formula. That leads to sustained success.”
Not just about harder work
It wasn’t just how much Federer trained that mattered. It was that he built a life where training, competing and everything around it remained something he truly enjoyed.“He loves tennis. He loves his family. He loves life.”This was a very different response than the Warriors expected.Instead of presenting longevity as a battle against exhaustion, Federer described a routine that allowed him to continue to return to his craft without losing his passion for it.
Why Federer made Kerr think about Curry
A few years later, Kerr drew a parallel between Federer and Stephen Curry—two superstars from completely different sports who nevertheless look almost effortless thanks to extraordinary athleticism.Federer’s movement on the tennis court and Curry’s movement on the basketball court have a similar visual quality: precision, balance and timing wrapped in a seeming ease that can obscure the work beneath.Kerr sees something deeper connecting them.When asked about Curry’s day-to-day conditioning and how the Warriors star maintains himself, Kerr immediately returned to the idea of routine.
Steve Kerr and Steph Curry. (Image via: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Curry’s routine is ‘like a metronome’
“Just the consistency of his routine – it’s like a metronome every day. It’s exactly the same. He’s in the training room, he’s in the gym, he’s on the court. It’s like clockwork, but there’s also a sense of joy and energy in the work. He’s really enjoying it, he loves the process.”For Kerr, this combination of discipline and joy is what separates longevity from simply surviving a long career.“I think that’s one of the things that ties all great athletes together. I’m talking about superstar athletes, the Roger Federers of the world, the Steph Currys of the world. There’s a routine that’s not just super disciplined and you really enjoy it every day.”“With that comes passion, and that’s what keeps it going over time. And when you love something like these guys do, you work at it and you get better and you just keep going…”
Curry’s love of work
When asked about Kerr’s comparison, Curry responded with a touch of humor.“I have to get a list of all the guys he compared me to: (former Spurs star) Tim Duncan, Roger Federer.But underneath the joke, Curry’s explanation of his own career sounded remarkably close to the philosophy Kerr remembered from Federer.“I like to work. You kind of lose yourself in training on the court in practice … in the weight room, wherever it is, because you know it’s going to lead to you being as prepared as possible for those games. (I) try to have as much fun as possible . . .”Curry acknowledged there are tough days, but the basic approach remains the same.“(There are) days when you’re tired…but it’s all built on my approach since I started and I try to carry it every year as long as I can…win, lose, whatever it is, no matter how you play, you have to keep coming back to keep sharpening your tool kit and finding ways to develop your game.”This philosophy allowed Curry to continually reinvent himself as his career progressed.