The Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection (Pgs 35-68)

Summary
With Federer's junior career coming to an end, he has yet to reach the number one and is trying to end the year being the best of all juniors.  The best juniors receive better contracts from sponsors and get more wild card entries into tournaments.  Just before making his ATP debut which is the men's professional tennis, Federer won the Wimbledon junior singles championships and received a wild card entry into the Swiss Open in Gstaad, a relatively local ATP tournament as it is in his country despite being ranked 702 in the world.  His first round match was against Tommy Haas, who was ranked 41 in the world and was also rising in popularity on tour.  However, at the very last minute, Haas withdrew and instead Federer played Lucas Arnold who was ranked 88.  Federer lost and his first experience with the professionals showed how different juniors are from the professionals.

At 17, with a ranking of 878, he achieved his greastest breakthrough by advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament in Toulouse, France, his best record yet in an ATP match. For his good showmanship of skills, he was invited to the Swiss Indoor, a prestigous tournament with a history many epic matches between legends.  Federer's first round opponent was Andre Agassi, one of the highest ranked players there and to no one's surprise, he beat Federer giving up only 5 games.  On December 21, 1998 Federer finally made it to number 1 in the International Tennis Federation's world junior rankings with the Orange Bowl, one of the biggest events in the junior tennis calender.

Quote
"He charmed spectators with dynamic displays of the most diverse strokes and with his virtuoso onslaught. He seemed to posess infinte potential-but he nonetheless repeatedly lost to inferior opponents. ."(Stauffer 44)


Reaction
I thought this quote made Federer sound like he had so much potential even he had no idea what to do with it.  This showed that Federer was a diamond in the rough and just needed some polishing.  I like this quote because I can relate to this since I can't seem to get around pushers who are essentially a wall and just gets the ball back every time, but when its against someone who hits the ball, I somehow play a lot better even though the shots made from an opponent is much harder to return.