The upcoming documentary FEDERER: Twelve Final Days will delve into tennis legend Roger Federer’s final days as a professional athlete. Reports suggest it will be released on Amazon Prime Video later this year, on June 20.
Throughout Federer’s more than two-decade-long career, his family never left his side. People Magazine reported that he met his future wife and tennis player, Mirka Vavrinec, in 2000 when both were representing Switzerland in the Olympic games. They dated for 9 years and got married in 2009.
After his 2017 Australian Open triumph, the tennis star said to the press that Mirka was with him when he did not have a single title. He credited his wife for his success and also said that she had played an important role in the Australian Open win. He said, “She’s been there when I had no titles and she’s still here 89 titles later, so she had a big part to play in [the win].” Federer also thanked his wife after he announced his retirement from professional tennis in 2022. In his final match, he joined forces with long-time rival/friend Rafael Nadal to take on the Team World at the Laver Cup.
Together, the couple has four children: Myla, Charlene, Leo and Lenny. Interestingly, Myla & Charlene and Leo & Lenny are two pairs of identical twins. The former were born in 2009, while the latter in 2014.
According to the ATP Tour‘s official website, the upcoming documentary “provides unprecedented access to the final 12 days of Federer’s career. With the 103-time tour-level titlist talking about the reasons behind his retirement decision and what it means to him and his family.”
FEDERER: Twelve Final Days’ director is the Academy Award, BAFTA, and Grammy-winning British director, Asif Kapadia.
Who are Roger Federer’s children?
Roger Federer’s twin daughters, Charlene Riva Federer and Myla Rose Federer were born in July 2009. According to People Magazine, the tennis legend called the day of their birth the greatest day of the couple’s life.
Federer and his wife had initially decided not to reveal that they were about to have twins. In a 2009 conversation with The New York Times, he said that he had to control himself to reveal the news to the press, however, he found it difficult to contain his excitement. He stated, “I had to really battle myself. I had a couple [of interviews] where I said, ‘We re really excited to have some babies,’ and I was thinking, ‘Is that already giving it away?”.
After Charleen and Myla’s birth, the tennis star candidly spoke to People Magazine about becoming a father for the first time. He said that he was enjoying fatherhood and was spending a lot of time with his daughters. He wanted to be heavily involved in raising the twins and didn’t want to miss out on anything. Additionally, he said that being a father was an amazing feeling, and took pride in that title. Although Myla and Charlene would regularly attend their father’s matches in many tournaments, Roger once jokingly said that tennis did not interest them as much as it interested him.
In December 2013, Federer and Mirka announced that their family was going to get bigger. In a Twitter post, he wrote, “Mirka and I are very happy to share the news that Myla & Charlene will be big sisters in 2014! Happy Holidays.” A few months later, in May 2014, twins Leo Federer and Lenny Federer were born.
Roger Federer’s wife and children were in attendance during his history 2017 Wimbledon triumph
Just like Myla and Charlene, Leo, and Lenny also regularly attended their father’s games, and were present during his famous 2017 Wimbledon men’s singles championship victory.
The tennis legend fondly recalled this moment and remembered how emotional he felt throughout the tournament. He even found it hard to believe that he was a Wimbledon champion until he spotted his kids in the stadium. Federer said, “I was just so deeply touched by my performance in the tournament from the beginning to the end. I looked up in the stands and saw my kids … then it started to sink in that I was a Wimbledon champion for real.”
He further stated, “I saw the boys for the first time, and [seeing] them coming out to centre court. And knowing how much center court means to me, and seeing them like not knowing what’s going on. And then the girls were there too and my wife was emotional. It just really hit me.”
In a 2022 interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Roger Federer revealed that after Leo, and Lenny’s birth, he began looking at his career differently. He believed that he was a dominating athlete but when his family went from four to six, he began looking at himself as a challenger. Interestingly, he liked this approach and said that it kept his desire to win alive.
