The era of the Big Four in tennis has come to an end. On September 15, the Swiss Roger Federer solemnly announced to the whole world that his career was over. The 41-year-old legend has one tournament left to play – the London Laver Cup.

In a touching letter addressed to all who took part in his legendary career, Federer dedicated an entire paragraph to his wife. And this is not an on-duty gratitude to the family, but the objective merit of Miroslava Vavrinets.

Without her, the Swiss would have finished playing much earlier.

Australian chemistry

The Summer Games in Sydney 2000 were remembered by our fans thanks to the first Olympic gold for Russia in tennis, which was brought by Yevgeny Kafelnikov. In the absence of many of the strongest tennis players who plowed a week earlier at the US Open, the road to the final was a little easier.

However, in addition to our triumph on the courts of Australia, the star of Roger Federer rose, who at the age of 18 reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Tommy Haas. By the way, the Swiss also did not get the bronze, losing to the Frenchman Di Pasquale.

But, as life has shown, Roger’s main victory in Sydney did not happen at all on the tennis court. Together with him, 22-year-old Miroslava Vavrinets played for the national team, and in the short time spent inside the team at these Games, Federer was able to make the right choice:

We both played tennis for Switzerland, and then we spent two weeks together in these hostels. We were with the wrestlers and all the other great athletes. There was chemistry, – the 20-time Grand Slam winner admits after a while.

True, the age difference forced the young man to go to fraud:

She told me that I was so young when she kissed me. I tried to tell her that I was almost 18 and a half. I tried to add a quarter of a year to myself,” Roger recalls.

Two years later, the couple will return to Australian soil and publicly acknowledge their relationship at the traditional Hopman Cup. If you now review the interview of Mirka and Roger after the match against Hewitt and Molik, then goosebumps run through the skin. The sincerity and warmth with which they looked at each other during the lost confrontation, and then commented on the match, fascinates. Even then it became clear that this union would be very strong.

Photo: © Phil Cole / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

I took everything into my own hands

Almost immediately after the tournament in Australia, Mirka was forced to end her career due to a constantly troubling ankle injury, and a year later the couple moved to their own home in the suburbs of Basel. And it turned out to be very helpful for the 22-year-old Roger, because the former tennis player instantly took matters into her own hands.

She solved all the problems related to logistics, accommodation, communication with journalists and sponsors. Moreover, there were rumors about her real influence on Roger’s trainers. The most memorable involved the dismissal of Peter Lundgren, with whom the Swiss won his first Wimbledon. Allegedly, Mirka had a hand in this. At the same time, she was not even the wife of a tennis player then.

The long-awaited celebration happened only in 2009, nine and a half years after the start of the relationship. The wedding took place at the Villa Wenkenhof, also known as the Swiss Versailles. By this time, Mirka was already pregnant with two daughters – Mila and Charlene.

After that, Federer freed his wife from part of the functionality by hiring a team. But despite the replenishment in the family, Mirka continued to support her husband with redoubled energy and work together with Federer on their common success. She went with him to tournaments, even when she gave birth in May 2014 to two sons – Leo and Lenny.

Photo: © Karwai Tang / Contributor / WireImage / Gettyimages.com

“I want to especially thank my wonderful wife Mirka, who lived with me every minute. She supported me to the very end, saw countless matches even when she was eight months pregnant, and tolerated me with my team for over 20 years. Seeing my family cheering me on from the stands is a feeling I will cherish forever,” Roger wrote in his farewell letter.

More important than the Olympics and any opponent

The influence of his wife on Roger was so great that Federer was even ready to miss the Tokyo Olympics due to the inability to be with his family. In an interview with the Sunday Times in 2020, he said he couldn’t sleep if Mirka wasn’t around. And while Federer cited a knee injury as the reason for not participating in the Games, he stressed how difficult it is to leave a wife and children at home due to COVID-19, and how this could affect his decision to attend the tournament.

If the Games could not compete with Federer’s wife, then any rivals even more so. Nick Kyrgios ironically admitted on the social network that the most difficult thing in matches against the Swiss is that Mirka screams and whistles towards the opponent before and between serves. And Stanislav Wawrinka had a conflict with Roger at all against the background of his wife’s too active behavior on the podium during the semi-final of the final ATP tournament in 2014. In general, Mirka often decided the outcome of matches in favor of Roger, replenishing the treasury of Federer victories.

A 24-year career, 103 titles, 20 Grand Slams, Olympic gold in pairs and 310 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings – this definitely would not have happened without Mirka Vavrinec. The protagonist and mastermind behind the grandiose career of Roger Federer.