How Roger Federer made a stirring statement of style, substance

Federer's body couldn't outrun the clock, but he had the time to make a statement of talent, class, substance & styleRoger Federer can toy with time - even in a highway chase, where the difference is in microseconds. The roll of the wrist, the flick of a racket. Pausing only to tease. When he winds up his shot there's some to spare. Federer doesn't advance, he apparates like those wizards in a Harry Potter-sequence, appearing magically to put racket to ball. Knees bent then straightening into an upright stance as he caresses a backhand that cuts. He was the miracle.

Read AlsoTears flow as emotions rule at Roger Federer's farewell

Tears flowed unabashedly at London's O2 Arena on Friday night. Roger Federer stressed, between sobs, that his were happy tears - at first to the 17,500 spectators and then to his family, teenage daughters, Charlene Riva and Myla Rose.

As extensively as RF - tennis player extraordinaire - may be chronicled, it is only spiral binding to the legend. It keeps the narrative together while conserving its entity. The different stages Federer embraced - from corporate boardrooms to education in Africa or even making bold fashion statements - are pathways stirred by the range he pursued on a tennis court. Remember that military-inspired suit jacket, with three front pockets, carrying the RF insignia in gold. It was 14 summers ago on Wimbledon's Centre Court. Voted 'the most stylish man of the decade' by GQ readers in 2019, ahead of Harry Styles, David Beckham and Justin Bieber among others, he put tennis on stages it wasn't comfortable tangoing on. "I work very hard," Federer underlined to the media at Wimbledon, "to make it look easy for you."

He was smiling, but he wasn't talking only about tennis.