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A Reminder That Roger Federer Quietly Has A Huge, Hilarious Ego

What stands out about Roger Federer’s career – besides the fact that at his peak, he was (and still occasionally is) one of the most dominant athletes who ever lived – is how dignified he always (well, almost always) appeared while doing it. Why, he’s one of the most well-respected people in the world.

And, well…Federer knows exactly how good he is, exactly how much you respect him. His clear knowledge of this doesn’t always come out, but when it does, it’s usually highly amusing. Yesterday, when he was chatting with ESPN2 as part of their Australian Open coverage, as he was talking about bridging the gap between generations of tennis players, we got a fantastic glimpse of that Federer ego:

In fairness, Federer talked about when he was a young player himself, and the thrill he got from playing guys like Pete Sampras. He has a clear appreciation for the game’s history – the guy he’s sitting next to in the clip above, Rod Laver, very much included. Also in fairness, we’re sure he’s not wrong about the young players of today getting a charge out of facing a living legend like Federer. But to pretty much announce his own living legend status, to talk of the “opportunity” to play (and, most likely, lose to) him…you can’t say he doesn’t have a cocky streak.

Of course, it’s pretty harmless, as far as cocky streaks go…which is what makes it so amusing. He’s not trying to sound obnoxiously aware of his own gifts – most likely, he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. He’s basically just stating facts…like he did one time when he described his own performance by matter-of-factly saying, “I was flawless.” And for a large part of his career, he pretty much was flawless. If any athlete has earned an enormous ego, it’s Federer. But that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh when he – even accidentally – shows he has one.