‘He Was My Uber Driver’ – South African Rugby Player Reveals His Fondest Memories With Roger Federer

Roger Federer is one of the most humble athletes one would ever come across. Despite his enormous achievements, he has always kept his feet grounded. This has resulted in him having a global fanbase, apart from his on-court exploits. Rarely have we seen the Swiss Maestro losing his cool on the tennis court.

Last week, Federer ended his illustrious career after playing in the Laver Cup. He paired up with Rafael Nadal for one last time in his career. After their match, the 20-time Grand Slam champion gave an emotional speech that left everyone in tears. Recently, South African rugby union player, Siya Kolisi, had some nice words for Federer after his retirement from tennis.

Siya Kolisi reminisces about his favorite memories of Roger Federer

The ATP Tour, on their official Twitter handle, shared a video of Kolisi paying tribute to Federer after his retirement. He said, “I want to say farewell to you and thanks for everything that you’ve done. My favorite moment with Roger was actually meeting him for the first time. That was amazing.”

Further, he went on to add, “And I think the videos that we got from him during the World Cup, when we won the World Cup and seeing how emotional he was when we won the World Cup was special.”

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Talking about meeting Federer’s family in Switzerland, Kolisi said, “Seeing them in Switzerland was the most amazing thing for me. Roger picked me up from the airport. He was my Uber driver… And he took me around with GPS everywhere.”

Federer on his iconic image with Rafael Nadal

After their doubles match, Federer and Nadal were seated on their chair as tears rolled down their eyes. Subsequently, they held each other’s hands, trying to control their emotions as the Swiss Maestro played the last match of his career. Their picture became the talking point of the town as fans lauded the two legends for their mutual respect and the friendship between them.

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Further, talking about holding Nadal’s hand during that moment, Federer described the act as a ‘secret thank you’ to Nadal.