By Bob Stockton
ESPN The Magazine is showing some love to Roger Federer. The world No. 1 graces the cover of the latest issue of the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” official magazine. It marks Federer’s first cover on ESPN The Magazine. He has been featured twice on the cover of Sports Illustrated, following his 2008 Wimbledon final loss to Rafael Nadal and when he won the 2009 French Open to achieve the career Grand Slam and tie Pete Sampras for the all time record of most major singles titles won by a man.
This is the first we have seen of Roger since his loss to Thomas Berdych at the Sony Ericsson Open last month. He is expected to make his clay court debut next week at the Italian Championships in Rome, still one of the elite titles in tennis that eludes the Swiss maestro.
For behind the scenes footage of Federer from the photo shoot – check out here: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5124873 There is a funny scene that is a cross between Abbey Road and a scene featuring Mini-Me from “Austin Powers.”
In the video interview, Federer says he would like to play about another seven years – until age 35 or so – and that he wants to have a time to “enjoy the tour” without the pressure of constantly having to win and maintain rankings and other standards.
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