Federer is his own man with absolutely no strings attached

New York: Roger Federer’s style is liquid or is it lyrical?

His seamless motion on the court is Gene Kelly “Singin’ in the Rain” or is it a Twyla Tharp creation of choreography? He is effortless or is he breezy? He is virtuosity or is he fusion?

Only someone as self-aware and complex as Federer could so meticulously describe a playing method that defies a simple description.

“I call it more retro style, like go back to the roots, in a way, but in a modern way,” Federer said on Friday over a pasta lunch at a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. “It’s like we all have these modern restaurants now, modern Indian, modern Arabic, modern this and that. I’m modern retro in an old style, you know, with new technology. Maybe this is why I have many admirers from old times, still.

“I’m very all-around, of course. Not the big weapon, let’s say, but players who play me, they know what the weapon is. They know if they give me a short ball, it’s gone, even if it doesn’t look that dramatic. It’s more of a fluid game, which has no scratches, you know, which is round and that makes it more dangerous. My ability is to be like a chameleon, maybe.”

Federer can morph into any form at any moment, but he knows exactly who he is all the time. This is the splendour of autonomy.

Amid the homogenised, neatly packaged young phenoms who will alight at the US Open beginning on Monday, Federer is an original in thought, style and voice ? no strings attached.

He has no agent, so Federer is free to turn down David Letterman, to write his own speeches, to be his own man. He is constantly aware of how his voice carries as the No. 1 ranked player in the world whether he is talking to the Swiss news media or opening the Nasdaq market as he did on Thursday.

“I go up to the Nasdaq,” Federer said, “and I think, what are you going to say? Just think about it a little bit: What message do you want to get out there? Are you just happy to be there? Is it an honour? What’s the relation? I do think about what I’m doing; and why am I doing it.

“If it makes no sense or if it is only PR or whatever, if it’s not credible, then I think that’s very important to know. I believe that’s my strength, because I don’t talk when I don’t think it’s appropriate. I don’t want, ‘well, it’s Federer again; what he says, he’s been talking enough weird stuff.’ I don’t want to be seen like that.”

He saw a need, for example, in South Africa ? the birthplace of his mother, Lynette ? and chose the children of New Brighton Township as his cause after recent visits left Federer alternately tearful and hopeful.

“There were little kids about 2 years old sitting in, like, a box with AIDS and HIV,” Federer said. “These little kids basically have no chance. They look so cute and you’re like, wow, what can I do?

“We went into the schools, and then you see happy kids singing and dancing and everything, how happy they are to see you there. That makes you emotional again because you feel so welcome. So for me, you see, maybe it’s seeing the happiness and the sadness being so close.”

Federer has no agent, so he has an entourage of about three, including his longtime girlfriend and manager, Mirka Vavrinec. He decides what fits into his tennis practices and what doesn’t fit with his personality. But he wasn’t always so well adjusted, so self-assured. Once, he was just another hothead prodigy with a nightclub existence and, yes, a management agency that orchestrated his life. It is probably no coincidence that in 2003 ? the same year he won Wimbledon, the first of his five majors ? he decided to venture onward without an agent. In 2004, he even played without a coach.

“Two or three years ago, I mean, it was all tennis. Tennis or video games or TV,” he said.

Federer is introspective or is he mischievous? He is confident or is he self-effacing? Federer is the combination of many traits, but he is always true to himself. He may be missing out on millions in endorsement dollars without an agent, but autonomy has its rewards. He is free to define himself.