2024 Commencement Address by Roger Federer at Dartmouth

thank you everybody it's great to see you and hello class of 2024 this is so exciting it's a an incredible feeling to be here with you and I am so excited to join you today really you have no idea how excited I am keep in mind this is literally only the second time I've ever set foot on a college campus second time ever but for some reason you are giving me a doctorate degree I just came here to give a speech but I get to go home as Dr Roger that's a pretty nice bonus so

Dr Roger this has to be my most unexpected Victory ever thank you president boock the Board of Trustees faculty members thank you for this honor president boock I'm incredibly grateful and I'll try my best not to choke I'm a little bit outside of my comfort zone today this is not my usual scene and these are not my usual clothes do you do you dress like this every day at Dartmouth the robe is hard to to move in keep in mind I've worn shorts almost every day for the last 35 years I'm not a person who

gives a lot of speeches uh like this maybe the worst but an important speech was when I started started on the Swiss national team I was only 17 years old and I was so nervous I couldn't even say more than four words happy to be here well here we are 25 years later and I still feel a little nervous but I've got a lot more than four words to say to you starting with I'm happy to be here happy to be with you here on the green as you might have heard grass is my favorite

surface big it must be Destiny and there's another reason I'm here and I can sum it up in two words beer [Applause] pong or pong as you call it and I guess you can all call it what you like I'm told Dartmouth in vened it now this sport wait is pong a sport it is okay or is it is a way of life either way Dartmouth is the wiblin of pong and it's even and it's even raining like in wimbl so I'm glad to work on my shots with some of you this past few days

I'm actually thinking about turning pro but I know there's more to Dartmouth than pong I've spent an amazing couple of days here and you've made Handover feel like home the mountains here are exactly like the Swiss Alps just shorter but I'm loving it here I got a chance to hit some balls with my kids at the boss Tennis Center yesterday I did a walkom I got to climb the baker Tower I saw some incredible views and took my kids to see the Dr Zoo's books at the library and of course also I crushed some chocolate

chip cookies from FCO and I ate some EB's chicken sandwich from L I've done it all but there's another big reason I'm here Tony G class of 93 are we wrapping now Tony godik is my business partner my longtime agent and one of my closest friends and most important the proud father of Isabella class of 2024 from Tony and now bam I know how special this place truly is and how loyal you are to each other and how obsessive you are about this color green I was with their family including Mary Joe and Nico the

day baa got into Dartmouth I remember how crazy happy she was I saw a smile and a level of excitement on her face that I'd never seen before but then I got here and actually everybody is smiling like this I can see how proud you are of this place and this moment you've worked so hard to get here I have huge respect for all of you what you have achieved and for the families and friends who have helped to achieve it let's give them a big hand I'm even more impressed because I left school at

the age of 16 to play tennis full-time so I never went to college but I did graduate recently I graduated tennis I know the word is retire Roger retire Roger feder retired from tennis retired the word is awful you wouldn't say you retired from college right it sounds terrible like you I finished one big thing and I'm moving on to the next like you I'm figuring out what that is graduates I feel your pain I know what it's like when people keep asking what your plan is for the rest of your life they ask me

now that you are not a professional tennis player what do you do I don't know and it's okay not to know so what do I do with my time I'm dad first so I guess I drive my kids to school I I play chess online against strangers I vacuum the house nor in truth I'm loving the life of a tennis graduate I graduated tennis in 2022 and you are graduating college in 2024 so I have a head start in answering the questions of what's next today I want to share a few lessons I've relied on

through this transition let's call them tennis lessons I hope hope they will be useful in the world Beyond Dartmouth so here's the first effortless is a myth I mean it I say that as someone who has heard that word a lot effortless people would say my play was effortless most of the time they meant it as a compliment but it used to frustrate me when they would say he barely broke a sweat or is even trying the truth is I had to work very hard to make it look easy I spend years whining swearing sorry

throwing my racket before I learned to keep my cool the wakeup call came early in my career when an opponent at the Italian Open publicly questioned my mental discipline he said Roger will be the favorite for the first two hours then I'll be the favorite after that I was puzzled at first but eventually I realized what he was trying to say everybody can play well the first two hours you're fit you're fast you're clear and after two hours your legs get wobbly your mind starts wandering and your discipline starts to fade it made me understand

I have so much work ahead of me and I'm ready to go on this journey I get it my parents my coaches my fitness coach everyone had been calling me out and now even my rivals were doing it players thank you I'm eternally grateful for what you did because you made me work harder so I started to train harder a lot harder actually but then I realized winning effortlessly is the ultimate achievement I got that reputation because my warm-ups at the tournaments were so casual that people didn't think I've been training hard but I had

been working hard before the tournament when nobody was watching maybe you've seen a version of this at Dartmouth how many times did you feel like your classmates were racking up a after a without even trying while you were pulling all nighters loading up in caffeine maybe or crying softly in a corner of samborn Library hope like me you learn that effortless is a myth I didn't get where I got on pure talent alone I got there by trying to outwork my opponents I believed in myself but belief in yourself has to be earned there was

a moment in 2003 when my self-belief really kicked in I was at the ATP finals where only the best eight players qualify and I beat some of the top players are really really admired by aiming right at their strength before I would run away from their strength if a guy had a strong forehand I would try to hit his backand but now I would try to go after his forehand I tried to beat the baseliners from the Baseline I tried to beat the attackers by attacking I tried to beat the net rushers from the net

I took a chance by doing that so why did I do it to amplify my game and expand my options you need a whole arsenal of strength so if one of them breaks down you've got something left when your game is clicking like that winning is easy relatively then there are days when you just feel broken your back hurts your knee hurts had that a lot maybe you're a little sick or scared but you still find a way to win and those are the victories we can be most proud of because they Pro that you

can win not just when you're at your best but especially when you aren't yes Talent is yes Talent matters I'm not going to stand here and tell you it doesn't but Talent has a broad definition most of the time it's not about having a gift it's about having grit in tennis a great forehand with sick racket head speed can be called a talent but in tennis like in life discipline is also a talent and so is patience trusting yourself is a talent embracing the process loving the process is a talent managing your life managing yourself

these can be talents too some people are born with them everybody has to work at them from this day forward some people are going to assume that because you graduated from Dartmouth it all is going to come easy for you and you know what let them believe that as long as you don't okay second lesson it's only a point let me explain you can work harder than you thought possible and still lose I have many times tennis is brutal there's no getting around the fact that every tournament ends the same way one player gets a

trophy every other player gets back on a plane stares out of the window and thinks how to hell that I missed that shot imagine if today only one of you got a degree congratulation this year's graduate let's give her a hand the rest of you the other 1,000 of you better luck next time so you know I tried not to lose but I did lose sometimes big for me one of the biggest was the finals at Wimbledon in 2008 me versus Nadal some call it the greatest match of all time okay all respect to Rafa

but I think it would have been way way better if I had won losing at Wimbledon was a big deal because Wimbledon winning Wimbledon is everything obviously except winning that Dartmouth Master pong title sophomore summer it is I mean I've gotten to play in some amazing venues around the world but when you have the chance to walk onto cord at Wimbledon the Cathedral of tennis and when you finish as the champion you feel the magnitude of the moment and there's nothing like it in 2008 I was going for record six consecutive title I was playing

for history I'm not going to walk you through the Match Point by point if we did we would be here for hours almost 5 hours to be exact there were rain delays the sun went down Rafa won two sets I won the next two sets in tie breaks and we found ourselves at 7 all in the fifth I understand why people focus on the end the final minute is so dark I could barely see the chalk on the grass but looking back I feel like I lost at the very first point of the match I

looked looked across the net and I saw a guy who just a few weeks earlier crushed me in St stra straight sets at the French Open and I thought this guy is maybe hungrier than I am and he's finally got my number it took me onto the third set before I remembered hey buddy you're the five time defending champion and you're on grass by the way you know how to do this but I came too late and Rafa won and it was well deserved some defeats her more than others I knew I would never get

another shot at six in a row I lost Wimbledon I lost my number one ranking and suddenly people said he had a great run is this The Changing of the Guard but I knew what I had to do keep working and keep competing in tennis Perfection is impossible in the 1, 1526 singles matches I played in my career I won almost 80% of those matches now I have a question for you what percentage of points do you think I won in those matches only 54% in other words even top ranked tennis players win barely more

than half of the points they play when you lose every second point on average you learn not to dwell on every shot you teach yourself to think okay I double faulted it's only a point okay I came to the net and I got passed again it's only a point even a great shot an overhead backand smash that ends up on ESPN's top 10 playlist that too is just a point and here's why I'm telling you this when you're playing a point it has to be the most important thing in the world and it is but

when it's behind you it's behind you this mindset is really crucial because it frees you to fully commit to the next point at the next point after that with intensity Clarity and focus the truth is whatever game you play in life sometimes you're going to lose a point a match a season a job it's a roller coaster with many ups and downs and it's natural when you're down to doubt yourself and to feel sorry for yourself and by the way your opponents have self-doubt too don't ever forget that but negative energy is wasted energy you

want to become a master at overcoming hard moments that is to me the sign of a Champion the best in the world are not the best because they win every point it's because they know they lose again and again and have learned how to deal with it you accept it cry it out if you need to and then force a smile you move on be relentless adapt and grow work harder work smarter remember work smarter lesson three are you guys still with me for for a for a guy who left school at 16 this is

a lot of lessons as well for me too so here's the third here's the third one life is bigger than the court a tennis court is a small space 2,16 Square fet to be exact that's for singles matches not much bigger than a dorm room I can make that three or four dorm rooms in Mass row I worked a lot learned a lot and ran a lot of miles in that small space but the world is a whole lot bigger than that even when I was just starting out I knew that tennis could show me

the world but tennis could never be the world I knew that if I was lucky maybe I could play competitively until my late 30s maybe even 41 but even when I was in the top five it was important to me to have a life a rewarding life full of travel culture friendships and especially family I never abandoned my roots I never forgot where I came from but I also NE never lost my appetite to to see the very big world I left home at 14 to go to school in the French part of Switzerland for

2 years and I was horribly homesick at first but learned to love a life on the move but these are the reasons I never burned out maybe I was excited to travel the world but not just as a tourist I realized pretty early that I wanted to serve other people in other countries motivated by my South African mother I started a foundation to empower children through education early childhood education is something we take for granted in a place like Switzerland but in subsaharian Africa 75% of children do not have access to preschool think about that

75% like all children they need a good start if they're going to fulfill their potential and so far we've helped nearly 3 million children to get a quality education and help to train more than 55,000 teachers it's been an honor thank you it's been an honor and it's been humbling an honor to help tackle this this Challenge and humbling to see how complex it is humbling to try to read stories to CH to children in one of the languages of lautu humbling also to arrive in rural Zambia and have to explain what tennis actually is

I vividly remember drawing a tennis court on the chalkboard for the kids to see because I asked them what tennis was and one kid said it's the one with the table right with the paddles pong again it's everywhere I have to tell you it's a wonderful feeling to visit these incredible rural places and to find classrooms full of children who are learning and reading and playing like children everywhere should be allowed to do it's also inspiring to see what they grow up to be some have become nurses teachers computer programmers it's been an exciting journey

and I feel like we're only at the beginning with so much to learn I can't believe we've just celebrated 20 years of this work especially because I started the foundation before I thought I was ready I was 22 at the time like many of you are today I was not ready for anything other than tennis but sometimes you've got to take a chance and then figure it out philanthropy can mean a lot of things it can mean starting a nonprofit or donating money but it can also mean contributing your ideas your time your energy to

Mission that is larger than yourself all of you have so much to give and I hope you will find your own unique ways to make a difference because life really is much bigger than the court as a student at Dartmouth you picked a major and went deep but you also went wide Engineers learned art history athletes even sang Acappella and computer scientists learned to speak German Dartmouth legendary football coach buddy tens used to recruit players by telling their parents your son will be a great football player when it's football time and a great student when

it's academic time and a great person all the time that is what a Dartmouth education is all about take tennis has given me so many memories but my offc cour experiences are the ones I carry forward just as much the places I've gotten to travel the platform that lets me get back and most of all the people I've met along the way tennis like life is a team sport yes you stand alone on your side of the net but your success depends on your team your coaches your teammates even your Rivals all these influences help

you to make you who you are it's not an accident that my business partnership with Tony is called team8 I play on words teammate all the work we do together reflects that team spirit the strong bond we have with each other and our colleagues and the athletes we represent and with partners and sponsors these personal Rel relationships matter the most I learned this way of thinking from the best my parents of course they've always supported me always encouraged me and always understood what I Most Wanted and needed to be a family is a team I

feel so very lucky that my incredible wife Mira who makes every joy in my life even brighter and our four amazing children Mila shalene Leo and Lenny are here with me today and more important that we are here for each other every day graduates I know the same is true for you your parents your families they made the sacrifice es to get you here and they have shared your triumphs and your struggles they will always always be in your corner and not only them as you head out into the world don't forget you get to

bring all of this with you this culture this energy these people this color green it's everywhere the friends who have pushed you and supported you to become the best versions of yourself the friends who will never stop cheering for you just like today and you will keep making friends in D dmouth Community possibly even today so right now turn to the people on your left and on your right and maybe this is the first time you've met you might not share experiences or viewpoints but you share this memory and a whole lot more when I

left tennis I became a former tennis player but you are not a former anything you are future record Breakers World Travelers future volunteers and philanthropists future winners and Future Leaders I'm here to tell you from the other side of graduation that leaving a familiar World Behind and finding new ones is incredibly deeply wonderfully exciting so there Dartmouth are your tennis lessons for today effortless effortless is a myth as we heard it's only a point life is bigger than the court wait I mean I got one more lesson president boock can I have my racket real

quick thank you okay so for the forand for those who play tennis you'll want to use an Eastern grip okay you keep your knuckles apart just a little bit obviously you don't want to squeeze the grip too hard uh switching from forehand to backhand should be easy also remember it all starts with the footwork and to take back is important and the same as a follow through no this is not a metaphor it's just good technique Dartmouth it has been an incredible honor for me thank you for the honorary degree thank you for making this

part making me part of your really big day I'm glad I got to meet so many of you these past few days and if you are ever in Switzerland or anywhere else in the world and you see me on the street even 20 or 30 years from now whether I have gray hair or no hair I want you to stop me and say I was there that day on the green I'm a member of your class the class of 2024 I will never forget this day yeah I will never forget this day and I know

you won't either you have worked so hard to get here and left nothing on the court or the pong table from one graduate to another I can't wait to see what you all do next whatever game you choose give it your best go for your shots play free try everything and most of all be kind to one another and have fun out there congratulations again class of 2024 w [Applause]