Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession

Written by,
William Skidelsky

“Tennis becomes a channel for complex emotions, and fandom tips into fixation, as a writer pursues his sporting idol.” Julian Barnes, the Guardian.
Skidelsky first watched Federer at Wimbledon in 2003, but wasn’t immediately smitten. So his attention was simply absent as the rest of us wallowed in those now-distant years of 2004-2006, when Federer could and did beat anyone, when he became world number one, a title he then held for 237 consecutive weeks.
Skidelsky’s attachment to the player has been much more sporadic, intense and alarming than that of most other fans, like those hosts of cheerful red-capped and red-backpacked women who follow their hero from tournament to tournament.