Article by Remus Dinu, Cezar Titor – Published on Monday, 03 November 2025 23:02 / Updated on Monday, 03 November 2025 23:16
A visit to his childhood home Roger Federerthe place where the “Swiss Maestro” began to hone his unparalleled career. Basel, the city that hosts the Romanian champion on Thursday, is the place where one of the greatest athletes of all time was born and stepped onto the tennis courts. Gazeta's reporters visited the “neighborhood” club that influenced the destiny of the great Swiss champion.
- FC Basel – FCSB is scheduled on Thursday, from 19:45, at “St. Jakob-Park”. Special reporters Remus Dinu and Cezar Titor are in Switzerland and provide the Gazeta readers with the most relevant information before the Europa League match.
On St. Galler-Ring, not far from the city center, easy to spot among the streets, a place full of meaning resides beyond the courtyard number 225. It's not the architecture that jumps out at you, it's not some futuristic building ready to hypnotize you from the road. Rather, it attracts its simplicity, combined with the brick of the slag fields and the nature that rears its head in autumnal colors.
More than three decades ago, in the Bachletten district of Basel, fate conspired for a certain kid, no older than 8 and already gifted with an easily recognizable talent, to be guided to the next stage of training by his mother, Lynette.
He had been touching a racket since he was three years old and was impressing the adults in the matches played on the pitches of “Ciba”, the private pharmaceutical company where his mother practiced.
But more was needed.
The afternoon that changed his life forever
There was a unanimous conclusion: the local promise needed a more competitive environment, and the coaches from the “Old Boys”, an established club in Basel, were best able to provide it.
That's how it was possible primary school boy Roger Federer to be enrolled, in the summer of 1989, in the “elite” programs of the private “Old Boys Tennis” club, under the instruction of the Czech Adolf “Seppli” Kacovsky, an old-school teacher from Czechoslovakia, driven from his native country by the Soviet invasion.
Kacovsky described the future world leader as a shy child, “but who turns into a predator on the field.”
On the “Old Boys” courts, a base with considerable seniority, Kacovsky guided Federer until he was 10 years old. In parallel, “FedEx” also flirted with badminton, basketball and football.
When he finally chose tennis, told his mentor that “one day he will be the best in the world at this sport”, said the Czech journalists from Prima televize, who listened to Kacovsky's story.
“I didn't laugh. I praised him because he had a goal. He was smart, he had movement, he had coordination. He was born with a racket in one hand and the ball in the other. If he didn't have practice, he would hit the ball against the wall for an hour. I suspected he could go far, but I never imagined how far,” Kacovsky recalled, according to the quoted source.
Federer grew up in Münchenstein, a town near Basel, located in the canton of Basel-Landschaft. With a wealthy family behind him, transportation to the club was never a problem.
He did not accept defeat. Missiles were flying, he cried. Once, even ten minutes straight! When something didn't work, he would get angry
– Adolf Kacovsky on Federer, according CNN Prime NEWS
Federer left Kacovsky's “protectorate” at the age of ten, continuing to “beat” from morning to night with the renowned Australian Peter Carter, a determining figure in his subsequent rise. He died prematurely, in a car accident, at the age of 37 (Roger was moved to tears years later, remembering his former instructor – video below)
Federer's mark is still here. And no one can remove it
Three decades later, the club that saw Federer grow and mature is still here. On the same street, surrounded by the same chestnut trees and waiting for a new great champion to knock on their doors.
The people of the house, in this case the administrators of the club founded in 1927, whispered to us that he could even be Henry Bernet, crowned champion, in early 2025, in the junior event at the Australian Open.
Like Federer, Bernet was born in Basel and represented the “Old Boys” club, now run by his aunt, Marianne Bernet. For the similarities to continue, he hits the lapel with one hand, a more than flattering comparison to his legendary predecessor.
“Now we're waiting for Henry to follow in his footsteps, although we know it won't be easy for him at all,” the supervisor present at the club early Monday morning, who approached us during the unplanned visit, told us.
He too, a man over 40 years old, endowed with undisguised hospitality, took us on a tour of the room decorated in honor of Federer.
A simple reception, a few tables scattered over a few square meters, a buffet-restaurant and a few collection pieces that transports to Federer's pre-adolescent era. Two junior trophies he won, a Wilson racquet (how else?!) sent over the years here, and a giant sticker covering one of the interior walls.
The dedicated Federer corner features a famous representation of his serve in the 2014 Wimbledon final, lost to Djokovic in a five-set “classic”.
The original racket, used by Federer in one of the battles during his junior years, it also takes pride of place on one of the interior walls, alongside two autographed balls.
And if Federer's one-handed backhand has charmed at least a few hearts over the years, it's good to know that it was honed right here on the courts of St. Galler-Ring 225, when an unknown from Basel was trying to copy the idols Edberg, Becker or Sampras.
20 Grand Slam titleshas the Swiss in his records, the 3rd place all-time, below Djokovic (24) and Nadal (22)
It lacks the buzz of a large academy, but the simplicity is reassuring
Externally, we do not find the opulence and endowments specific to a great academy. The area includes nine outdoor clay courts, a clubhouse, plus the clubhouse restaurant. With the cold season in full swing, most of the uncovered grounds are unusable, although the caretakers make sure every day that the rain and hostile weather don't degrade them too much.
The activity also exists indoors. Two of the pitches are hermetically protected by a balloon which allows training in the autumn/winter months as well. The echo of popping balls and gasps can be heard harmoniously from outside the balloon.
On the official website, the club presents itself as “Home of a Legend” precisely because Roger Federer took his first steps in tennis here. And the Swiss has never strayed from the place where he grew up, even if he no longer lives in Basel.
Recently, according to several local publications, Federer publicly and financially supported the club's new indoor hall project.
Inspired by the conduct of their former student, the representatives of the base periodically organize “junior days” type events, competitions where the values that the “Master” displayed throughout his career are promoted.
10 titlesbeat Roger Federer in Basel home tournament, “Swiss Indoors”
