How coping with death of his coach set Roger Federer on the path to greatness

This is a story about grief and trauma. It is about the eternal, ripple-like influence of a great teacher or coach. And it is about the origins of the most wondrous sight in sport: Roger Federer’s one-handed backhand.

Search for the words “Peter Carter” and “tennis” on YouTube and many of the clues soon appear. There is the grainy footage of Carter announcing himself in senior tennis with a rasping, Fed-esque, cross-court backhand winner to defeat John Alexander in the South Australian Open.

There is then the testimony of Federer’s parents, Robert and Lynette, about how their “restless” child learned to control his once volatile on-court behaviour. There is the footage of Federer winning his 20th and most recent Grand Slam title – the 2018 Australian Open – in front of Carter’s parents, Bob and Diana, inside the Rod Laver Arena.

And then there were Federer’s tears earlier this year in Melbourne during an interview with CNN when the subject turned to Carter, a man he has described as his “real” coach and whose life was tragically cut short at the age of 37.

“Peter was an incredibly inspirational and important person in my life,” says Federer. “He taught me respect for each person. I can never thank him enough.”

It is at the Peter Smith Tennis Academy in Adelaide where the story really begins.

Smith has been one of the world’s leading tennis coaches for more than three decades and, as he talks while watching a new generation of players, his voice frequently wavers. “It’s an emotional subject,” he says.

Carter was living in Nuriootpa, a town of 6,000 around 50 miles north of Adelaide, when he began weekly training at Smith’s academy. Darren Cahill, Mark Woodforde and John Fitzgerald were also in the same cohort and, as Carter progressed, the decision was made that he should move in with the Smith family. He was just 15 and the underlying ethos was clear.

“I try to teach health and family first … daylight … and then tennis,” says Smith. “The idea is to see people grow into meaningful human beings and use tennis as a medium. Peter was small, skinny but significantly talented. A lovely kid. We had three younger sons and he became like a big brother to them.” Although Carter would break into the world’s top 200 and won a doubles title with Cahill, his progress was curtailed by injuries. He suffered one fracture while skiing in Europe and an initial three-month stint coaching in Switzerland to finance his playing soon turned into a permanent arrangement at the Old Boys’ Club in Basel.

It was here that he first met a nine-year-old Federer and the course of tennis history would change. “We spoke regularly,” says Smith. “I would tell him about this brother and sister we had – which was Jaslyn and Lleyton Hewitt. He was telling me about these talented kids but he realised quite early that there was an exceptional one. He felt in his heart that Roger would not just be number one but the best player anyone had ever seen. It wasn’t like Peter to talk like that but it was how he felt.”

These conversations continued for years before their two young players finally met. Hewitt had travelled to Switzerland for a tournament and Federer can still vividly recall how, at match-point down, he was the beneficiary of a poor line-call and an ultimately fortuitous win. “Then of course we played each other our whole career,” said Federer. “Who knew we would both become Wimbledon champions, world number ones? I think if I can say thank-you for my technique today it is to Peter.”

Smith says that there is a very legitimate comparison between their elegant styles. “Peter might not have been as big or as strong – and he may not have been as talented – but in an ideal world he could have been just about anything,” he says. “A lot of people around here in the know, who saw Peter grow up, believe that is where Roger got his beautiful game. Peter had a cult following among adults. They loved the way he played. You teach what you know. I have an artistic and creative background. A lot of coaches try to eliminate variation. Peter knew Roger had the talent – he wouldn’t have tried to make him conform with second rate boundaries.”

Smith was then fascinated to finally see a teenage Federer up close when Carter began bringing him out to tournaments in Australia. “He was so richly talented but he had these periods when he just seemed like he wasn’t really involved,” he says. “I sat with Carts through many of Roger’s matches. Unbeknown to us, he was telling Roger, ‘You need to be more competitive like Lleyton’. He was gradually getting over that but it was Lleyton who, in 2001, won a Grand Slam.”

Peter Lundgren had taken over as Federer’s principal coach by 2002 but his player still personally campaigned for Carter to become Switzerland’s Davis Cup captain. It was soon after his appointment that Carter went on a belated honeymoon to Kruger National Park in South Africa with his wife Sylvia, who had been recovering from Hodgkin’s disease.

The horrific details of what followed were recorded in The Australian newspaper. Carter was in a vehicle which swerved off the road to avoid a head-on collision with a minivan and went through the railing of a bridge and landed in a river bed. He died instantly.

Federer, who was only 20, was playing in Toronto when he heard the news and is said to have immediately left his hotel and simply ran through the streets in tears. The impact was profound.

“I guess it was something of a wake up call,” he says. “I really started to train hard.” It is certainly instructive in this context to consider an evolving but growing body of research which has found correlations between many of sport’s most exceptional achievers and some form of trauma during their formative years.

David Law, the former ATP communications manager, saw at first hand how Federer changed. “Roger was overly emotional on court in terms of anger,” he says. “He couldn’t handle imperfection. Peter was a big part in helping him to mature when he was alive in Roger’s formative years, and in his death in that Roger was forced to face something that he had not faced before.

“Roger was devastated. I don’t think he’d ever had to think about mortality before. It stopped him in his tracks. This is someone he knew well, who he saw every day, who he travelled everywhere with. Peter was a great guy.” Just under a year after Carter’s death, and Federer would be lying in tears on Centre Court after winning his first Wimbledon title. “Nobody knew at the time what the tears were about,” says Smith. “I have a nice email from Roger straight after which I have thought about a million times. It says, ‘Every time I play a good shot or every time I win a great match, I think of Peter. I am sure he will be looking down on me and he would be proud’. The choice of words resonates with me. ‘I am sure he would be proud’. I think that was what he wanted all along.”

Federer has of course since spent almost two decades rewriting every tennis record but perhaps the most touching aspect of all is his ongoing relationship with Carter’s parents.

Every year, he arranges for their travel, accommodation and place in the players’ box with his wider team at the Australian Open. “I speak to Peter’s parents three times a week and they just love Roger,” says Smith.

“The one massive regret that I have – and I think Roger feels the same way – is that Carts didn’t get to see the fruits of his labour. Roger now seems more in love with tennis I think than anyone I have ever seen. He transcends the game. He is the most popular athlete on the planet.”

And what would Carter have thought of seeing Federer to fulfil his potential and win 20 Grand Slam titles? It was the specific question that promoted Federer’s tears earlier this year but the eventual response only confirmed his mentor’s everlasting influence: “He didn’t want me to be a wasted talent … I hope that he would be proud,” he said.