Customer Reviews

The Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

What a waste of a tree. This book is little more than a narrative of Roger Federer's travel movements and his match scores. Most of it could have been written using the ATP fixtures and match results. The rest could have been gathered from internet news searches.

Despite describing himself as "one of the world's leading tennis journalists", René Stauffer offers little personal insight into Roger Federer, man or tennis player. Nor has there been any substantial research into the views of people who know him well enough to provide such insight.

Federer has stable personal life and he is not a party animal, so there is no expectation by the reader of great revelations in this area. But there are some things the reader of a tennis biography would like to know, such as:

* Why did Federer use a single-handed backhand when most players of his generation use a double-handed back-hand?

* How did he develop that balletic and devastating forehand?

* Did he naturally have great footwork or did he (or someone else) decide to develop it?

* Who taught him to serve that way?

* How has he changed or developed his groundstrokes over the years?

* When does he try to hit a winner?

* What tactics does he use against different opponents?

And so on.

And what was he trying to do in those big matches? What makes Federer tick? This is the essence of biography.

Obviously Federer himself will not reveal his thinking and tactics, but one would expect one of the "world's leading tennis journalists" to provide some analysis - or to get it from others.

I bought this book on the recommendation of Chris Fowler from the ESPN broadcast of Wimbledon and it arrived the day after Roger's win at Wimbledon. The book is full of fun and interesting stories about Roger as a junior player, as well as a pro with interesting insight on his game, his personality, his reasonings for his coaching changes and what drives him. It is a great educational book for tennis fans or those remotely interested in the sport. I loved the story about how Roger had to clean toilets for a week!

This book is basically a regurgitation of almost every tennis match Roger has played in, with the odd personal ancedote thrown in. There are statements about his character and personality with little information to back it up.

I wanted to gain a better understanding of who Roger was and how he came to be at the pinnacle of his profession, from the standpoint of his athletic gifts, his personality/character and environment. (That is what the name and book jacket desription led me to believe I would find in the book.) There needed to be more information and analysis of these things.

I could have learned more about Roger from a google search.

This book is poorly written and poorly translated. Many of the adjectives were odd in the context of the sentence they were being used in. Some of Mr. Stauffer's descriptions of the tennis world and the people in it, as they related to Roger, were very simplistic, as if he was writing for a 10 year old audience.

One is left with a very one dimensional view of Roger. Perhaps Roger was unwilling to reveal more personal information which would have given the reader a better understanding of the whys and wherefores in his journey to the top

I downloaded this book onto my Kindle but after two chapters I deleted it for good. It reads like a collection of newspaper clippings, offering no insight into Federer as a person or the world of progessional tennis. It could have been put together by a 10 year old who doesn't know how to write English.

We bought this book for my son and all of us ended up reading it. The book has all of the scores from Roger's matches, but more importantly, I thought it did a good job of explaining how he got past his temper tantrums. He is still very emotional (he is so devoted to tennis), but when he is on the court he is entirely professional and that's what young players need to do, to control their emotions, to have their emotions work for them, in order to play their best tennis.

The writer himself had the hinesty to say, in the preface, that the Federer family did not think it was the right time to write a biography about a man still building his legend and not retired from the sport.

That sais, this book was a big, I mean HUGE, dissapointment. It's nothing more thatn a fan declaration of love for Federer, with almost no insight into the man himself and with a lot notes cited from interviews in other magazines. A typical below-par unauthorized biography.

I unfortunately lost my time reading this one.

This is the only book about Federer that I have been able to find. It contains some excellent analyses of his style that capture the essence of his greatness, as well as insights into his character. I enjoyed it so much that it a shame to make negative comments but they should be said. Originally written in German, the translation into English is at times awkward. Secondly, including the stats of all his matches within the text can become boring. I would have preferred tables at the end. But these are minor compared to the positives.

More of a comprehensive collection of past interviews and accomplishments, as opposed to unique insights or details many Federer fans may look for. The book is well written, but as far as sports biographies are concerned, I found James Blake's bio as well as Lance Armstrong's more interesting.

I highly recommend this book to the fans . It is easy to read and full of details and anecdotes . You also have the feeling that you become part of Roger Federer's life .
Many thanks to the writer .

Patricia Jimmy

The Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection is the real thing. Written by a real journalist about a real achiever. The author, Rene Stauffer, is a recognized figure in sports writing in Europe, and he is not at all embarassed to be smitten with Roger, as we all have been. But the biography is not gushy and it's not celebrity worship. Stauffer has done his own legwork and reveals the person behind the statistics and the worldwide recognition. Readers will not be surprised to learn that solid rearing by sensible parents and hard work on the court are the dominant factors in Federer's life. And of course now he must be a businessman, and we learn about that, too. This is a superior sports biography, at its core, good writing about a good person. You will read straight through and be glad you did.