Roger Federer delighted from his tour of Brazil – Tennis News
Former world number one, Roger Federer, recently visited Sao Paulo, Brazil to play in an exhibition match against the local hero, Thomaz Bellucci. He lost the match to the 33rd ranked Brazilian but enjoyed the trip.
The crowd enjoyed every bit of the friendly contest especially the first victory of their young hero against the Swiss Maestro, who led the set scores by 1-0 by the end of the opening phase. The match ended with the final scores of 5-7, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in favour
of 24-year-old Bellucci.
Federer lost the match but thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Brazil especially his meeting with the former football guru, Pele. In an interview to the Swiss journalist, Renè Stauffer, the 31-year-old tennis icon expressed her delight
and the most amazing moment of his trip to Sao Paolo. On answering a question about what did he enjoyed the most in Brazil, Federer said, “Surely the encounter with Pelè!”
He further added, “I met him on Saturday, and it was incredible. He’s a myth and when I saw him, I thought ‘Wow, so he really exists’ (laughed). He’s one of the greatest personalities in the world. Just as I arrived, he hugged
me, he was happy to see me. I’m very lucky to have had this opportunity. It wasn’t the only moment that I’ll keep in my heart: I had a lot of fun with children; I love to give them advice, I hope to do it more in the future. I had great fun everywhere I went.”
Pele and Federer swapped gifts as well. Federer honoured the footballer with his racquet whilst Pele returned the friendly gesture with a duly signed 1958 FIFA World Cup t-shirt that he wore in Sweden.
Federer also stated that there were a lot of his fans who were reduced to tears as soon as they saw him. So, he was so excited to see so much love in Brazil. He hugged each one of them and told them that ‘It’s alright, it’s alright’.
It was such an amazing experience for the 31-year-old Swiss legend that his urge to play in Rio Olympics 2016 ignited to a whole new level.
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