Twelve Final Days Review: The Federer Tribute

Given that Twelve Final Days doesn't really delve into the genesis of Roger Federer, the ups and downs of his career, the assumption is that it is meant for people who are already familiar with his work, observes Deepti Patwardhan.

Late in the documentary, amidst the 2022 Laver Cup frenzy, Roger Federer's long-time coach and friend Severin Luthi remarks, 'You know what they say, sports people die twice.'

It is the dying moments of Federer the athlete, who once seemed immortal, that Asif Kapadia's documentary Twelve Final Days, addresses.

Not surprisingly, the documentary reels you in with footage of Federer's most stunning shots.

In that, he could not have found a better muse.

We could all happily just watch hours and hours of the Swiss turn tennis into art, with the most elegant, fluid strokes.

Peak Federer, untouched by time.

But then, it jerks you into reality, takes you to a place where the 20-time Grand Slam champion is preparing to record his retirement note.

When Federer bid, in his own voice, a fond farewell to tennis.

The one we heard a few days later, on September 15, 2022, in stunned silence.

That may be the film's biggest failing.

Given that the movie doesn't really delve into the genesis of the champion, the ups and downs of his career, the assumption is that it is meant for people who are already familiar with Federer's work.

But the movie seldom tells us much about the last few days of his athletic career, that we hadn't already seen, heard or experienced before.

There is much of the same for the die-hard Federer or tennis fans, and not enough for the others.

Federer's has been one of the most documented careers ever.

He was a master of masking emotion on the court but the Swiss never failed to give an insight into how he felt in the post-match analysis.

Whether he was happy or sad or hurt or miffed or just genuinely proud of himself, Federer usually laid it all out.

There are some attempts to add context to the retirement saga, like the interactions with his family. His wife, Mirka, a former tennis player herself, makes a rare appearance, as do his parents and four children.

There is a lot of tearing up, from Federer, from his family, his rivals, his team, his fans, but very little raw emotion.

At least, nothing that hasn't already been captured on film before.

The second half of the movie looks like an extended cut of the 2022 Laver Cup, Federer's final tournament as an active player, with his media interactions in London around that time and official press conferences thrown in for good measure.

But anything Federer touches can't be all bad. Right?

The 20-time Grand Slam champion has been the best advertisement and the most eloquent spokesperson for the sport.

He does sprinkle some gold dust through the movie with his insights into the sport -- a confluence of boxing and chess, his own game and also into his rivalries.

It is baffling to many how the guy has so much time and grace -- in his career and in the documentary -- for those who have stolen glory from him.

On the tennis court, Federer was all about the effortless beauty.

When Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic burst onto the stage, their searing intensity was blinding.

Their chase-every-ball-like-life-depended-on-it game threw some shade on Federer’s easy style.

'It was something for which I was criticised heavily,' he says of the time Nadal and Djokovic loosened his grip on men's tennis.

'Why didn't I fight more when losing? I didn't quite understand what that meant. Do I have to grunt? Do I have to sweat? Do I have to shout more? Do I have to be more aggressive towards my opponents? I tried but it was all an act.'

The documentary spends considerable time on the dynamics of Federer's rivalry with Nadal and with Djokovic. And rightly so.

Federer may have kicked off the greatest generation in men's tennis but it took Nadal and Djokovic's undying spirit to make it what it was.

The setting of the finale is the Laver Cup, a team tournament conceived by Federer to honour tennis legend Rod Laver and one that provided a fitting platform for his farewell in 2022.

As the action shifts there, it becomes clear why the Swiss ended up as one of the most loved sportspeople.

Even though every conversation, be it with fans or with his heroes like Laver and Bjorn Borg, carries the under-current of his impending retirement, Federer carries on being funny and curious and personable.

For years, he was the glue that held tennis-bringing players and fans of different countries, cultures and generations together.

His farewell ended up being a celebration of not just Federer's career, but that of the sport and some of its best practitioners, past, present and future.

His final match, a doubles match with Rafael Nadal as his partner on September 24, 2022, and the ceremony and speeches after were a tearjerker then, and are a tearjerker now.

While Federer was always a crier, watching strongmen Nadal and Djokovic weep for a part of their career and life they were saying goodbye to was extraordinary.

Humanity of super athletes rarely fails to move.

And that's what Federer, Kapadia and everyone involved in the making of Twelve Final Days, will be banking on to make it a success.

Twelve Final Days streams on Amazon Prime Video.