In 25 years of interviewing athletes, I’ve learnt that they never ask you anything back. Roger Federer is the exception. In the van to his private jet, he bombards me with questions: how badly have the gilets jaunes smashed up Paris, where I live? Do I have children? When he discovers I have twins (he has two sets, one female, one male), and that my mother, like his, came from northern Johannesburg, he grins with delight: “We could be like brothers.” He speaks near-perfect English, with some of the singsong rhythm of his native Swiss-German.
我对顶级运动员长达25年的采访经验是：对方从来不会反过来对我提问。但费德勒(Roger Federer)却是个例外。在其私人喷气飞机的包厢里，他的问题接连不断：法国“黄背心”(gilets jaunes)对巴黎的破坏有多严重？平时住在哪里？有孩子吗？当他得知我也有一对双胞胎孩子（他本人有两对孪生孩子，一对都是女儿，另一对都是儿子）、而且我母亲与其母一样同样来自南非约翰内斯堡北部地区时，不禁喜形于色：“我们彼此可以兄弟相称。”他的英语近乎完美，只是间或夹带些许其母语瑞士德语的抑扬顿挫的语调。