There is superstition, writings on the wall … Many players have superstitions; like they go to the same places every night to eat, they use the same stalls for showers or whatever at a site. They don’t walk on the lines. They wear the same outfits, well that would be pretty gross if the outfits were not laundered from use one day to the next. You get the picture, right?
Now, I never thought Roger Federer was the superstitious kind of guy but I definitely saw him step over lines on a change of ends during a match he played on the Rod Laver Arena. It prompted the thought on whether he actually was that way inclined … you know, superstitious.
Adding to the curiosity was the fact that there had been a report in a local paper about Federer actually being quite superstitious. The report said he was obsessed with the number eight, to which Federer was more than amused. The No.8 is a very lucky number for the Chinese and as it turns out for Roger as well.
“I'm not superstitious at all (but) 8 is my favourite number, but obsessed would be a bit extreme,” he said with amusement.
The same report had indicated that he likes to have eight towels. That was greeted with plenty of laughter. “Three (towels),” he said. “Bad feng shui for me here.”
Federer said even when he first started his career apart from some very small aspects, he was not superstitious.
“Probably some minor ones where you hope you can sit on the same side of the umpire's chair,” said Federer. “I guess it's more routines I have, to make sure I'm on time for my matches, that I feel good because when I was a junior I feel like I remember being dizzy sometimes for my matches just because maybe the warm-up was too close to the match or was too far away or I didn't warm up properly or I ate at the wrong time.
“You have a routine, but that, to me, is not superstition.”
Mmm, what about not stepping on the lines then Roger?
