School is finally back in session for Roger Federer’s superfan | ATP visit

As Roger Federer fans around the world eagerly await their hero’s return to Doha, a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher in Belgium offers a lesson in the rewards of patience.

Martine Lessire has seen Federer perform live 44 times and would be in Doha this week for her long-awaited return if she was not locked in Belgium due to the pandemic. But she doesn’t just watch her games. She is also waiting for him, alongside other supporters, outside stadiums, training grounds and hotels for the opportunity to wish him good luck, take a photo or exchange a few friendly words. .

“I don’t know if Roger knows my name now, but he knows my face for sure,” Lessire says.

After paying € 900 for a ticket to Wimbledon in 2016, she camped out to see Roger in 2017, 2018 and 2019, as she slept an entire week in her tent outside the All England Club. Because there is nowhere to take a shower in the queue, she also paid for a room at a neighboring Bed & Breakfast. “You have to run back and forth to clean up because you’re only allowed to leave the queue for an hour,” she says.

Lessire has no complaints. Camping for a week was a lot of fun, she says. And so was waiting eight hours in Rome in 2016 in order to give Federer the red envelope – a package filled with good luck wishes from his fans around the world. “I wanted to have a good seat for Roger to see me,” she explains. “That does not bother me. We spent more time waiting to see him than watching him play. You have to be patient. “

His most memorable exchange with Federer took place in Rotterdam in 2018 after his return to No.1 in the FedEx ATP rankings. It was freezing cold, and the peloton of supporters waiting for Roger outside the stadium started to thin out after about an hour. But Martine didn’t want to move. “When Roger finally got out, it was just my friend and I, so we got to talk to him,” Lessire recalls. “We waited three hours but it was fantastic!”

Lessire enjoys her brief interactions with Federer. “Roger is always so nice to us,” she said. The father-of-four appreciates his fans and is fortunate to have such passionate ones in Lessire, but she insists it’s her and other Federer loyalists who are the luckiest.

“Watching Roger is like a gift to me,” she said. “With no Roger’s games to watch this year, it’s been terrible.”

Roger Federer in 2008. “/>

Lessire played tennis as a child but says she wasn’t very good. Before Federer’s arrival, she was a fan of her peasant girl Justine Henin and did not follow men’s tennis closely. She began to take root for Federer in 2008, but her obsession gained momentum after seeing him live for the first time in 2012 in a Davis Cup match. “In person, you can see the power of his playing, his grace, his movement; everything is different when you see tennis live, ”she said.

Since that day, she has watched all of Federer’s matches live or on Tennis TV, which hasn’t always been easy, especially when she was still teaching. Her husband, Giancarlo, is not a big fan of tennis, but that’s okay, she says, because when she broadcasts Roger’s matches – always live, even if they happen in the middle of the night – she prefers to be alone. “I’m too nervous,” she explains. “I don’t want to talk to anyone, but I text with other Federer fans.”

Her loyalty is absolute – she says she would support Switzerland rather than her native Belgium in the Davis Cup if Roger played. When she was still a teacher, her students knew there was nothing better than saying bad things about Roger, and one of the parents buttered her by baking her an RF birthday cake with a tennis racket in the icing. .

Giancarlo doesn’t care about his fetish Federer – he doesn’t even object to the life-size cutout of Federer in a tuxedo, now with an RF mask on his face in their living room – because his hobby makes her happy and because that she helped her make friends with like-minded Fed fans around the world.

2020 has been a difficult year, thanks obviously to the pandemic, but also to the fact that Djokovic has moved closer to Federer’s 20 majors and that Nadal has equaled. If one of them has to beat his record, Martine would prefer it to be Rafa, since he and Roger are good friends.

Martine hopes to be able to see Roger at NOVENTI OPEN in Halle, her favorite tournament, this summer. She prefers this tournament because of the setup – the players’ hotel is across from the stadium and the training grounds are right next door, giving her plenty of Federer settlement opportunities. “On a good day, I can see him a few times there,” she says.

Federer’s return will give her more opportunities to cheer him on or mourn as she said for a full week following her loss to Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2019 final, if things go wrong. Martine says tears will flow for months when Roger announces his retirement. But for now, his patience is about to pay off as his hero takes to the court in Doha. “It’s always worth the wait for Roger,” she said. “He never disappoints his fans.”