Roger Federer revealed the secret to his success on Saturday: adulation. And a lot of it.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion was a guest of the BBC's version of The Today Show with the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. Bercow was the show's guest host and was given the choice of interviewing anyone he wanted, according to BBC.com.
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Bercow was a former top-ranked Britain junior player who claimed to have watched 65 of Federer's matches in 2014.
Federer talked about the longevity of his career - he has a record 302 weeks at No. 1 and after an injury-plagued 2013 in which he fell to No. 8 in the world, he rebounded with 73 match wins this year - the most on the ATP - and finished No. 2, just behind Novak Djokovic.
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"I realized very quickly that it's an entirely different thing winning something for the first time and then having to come back the following year and defend it," Federer said on the program. "Once I reached a certain level ... I looked up to the great other athletes out there (for motivation), like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Valentino Rossi and Michael Schumacher - people who did it so long, so many times and make you wonder 'How did they do that?' "
But then, Federer revealed the motivation to find out about the staying power of superstars: It's just not as fun not competing on the biggest stages.
"I definitely am fortunate to always be playing on Centre Court and very often prime time," he said. "I must say - and this is honest - I don't know if I would still be playing if they would put me on Court 4 every day.
He continued: "That would be difficult for me, having played on all these wonderful courts around the world and now playing in front of a fraction of those people; that would be rough."
Which is why he is a legitimate threat to add another Grand Slam title to his résumé in 2015 - his crowds have not diminished.
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