Culture chat: Roger Federer is too nice for documentaries

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Roger Federer is one of the world’s greatest tennis players – but is he dramatic enough for a full film? Today we discuss the new Federer documentary, just released on Amazon Prime. It’s called Federer: Twelve Final Days, and follows the tennis star in the run-up to his retirement. Does the film fully reflect his legacy well? Is Federer boring? And how do we feel about the next batch of tennis stars? Chief features writer Henry Mance and deputy arts editor Raphael Abraham join Lilah to discuss.

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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap. We’re on X @lifeandartpod and on email at [email protected]. We are grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify. And please share this episode with your friends!

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):

– Raph’s interview with 22-year-old Italian Grand Slam winner Jannik Sinner: https://on.ft.com/4etUAro

– Henry’s interview with tennis star Boris Becker on his money, marriages and what he learned in prison: https://on.ft.com/3VPUMKy

– Henry is on X @henrymance.

More or less:

– Raph recommends the Julio Torres film Problemista. You can check out his stand-up comedy here

– Henry recommends Creation Lake, the upcoming novel by Rachel Kushner publishing in September

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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:01.0	Welcome to Life and Art from FT Weekend.
0:03.5	I'm Lila Raptopoulos, and this is our Friday chat show.
0:07.6	Today we are talking about tennis legend Roger Federer.
0:11.0	The Swiss player is one of the greatest athletes of all time,
0:14.1	and a new documentary was released on Amazon Prime about him this week.
0:18.2	It's called 12 Final Days,
0:20.2	and it follows Federer from the day he announces
0:22.5	his retirement in September of 2022 through the last match he plays professionally 12 days later
0:28.3	at the Lever Cup. It features intimate moments with his family and with his biggest rivals who are at
0:33.8	the Cup, too, Raphael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. This is also an exciting time to talk tennis because it's a summer full of it. The film Challenges was a huge hit. Tennis Corps is a fashion trend, and Wimbledon starts on July 1st. So let's get into it. I'm Lila, and I want to say to the game of tennis, I love you and I will never leave you.
0:55.1	Joining me from London, rolling in on the Fed Express, we have Deputy Arts Editor Rafael
0:59.8	Abraham.
1:00.8	Raff is an adult fan first and foremost, but he's put these feelings aside for today.
1:04.8	Hi, Rath.
1:05.5	Yeah, I will do my best.
1:08.4	Also in London, I think he just whispered something to Djokovic that made him cry. It's the FTC
1:13.9	features writer, Henry Mance. Hi, Henry. Welcome. Hey. Okay, so let's get into it. What did you both think
1:20.4	of the documentary top line? You know, is it a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Rath. Well, look,
1:26.7	I'm a huge tennis fan. I love Federer dearly as much as I'm an
1:30.7	adult fan. You know, I can't resist the Fed. But as a documentary, I didn't think that much of it,
1:36.4	to be honest. You know, I think it's great as fan service. And it'll make Federer diehards happy
1:43.8	and the man himself happy. But as a kind of
	...

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