Maybe I am all cried out - Review of FEDERER: Twelve Final Days

Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal at Laver Cup 2022

Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal at Laver Cup 2022. Photo by Ella Ling

If you have been living under a rock or completely out of the loop with tennis news there might be big spoilers ahead, so continue at your own risk.

Roger Federer retired from the pro game in 2022 by posting a video to instagram on September 15th. I had been living vicariously through his earlier posts of practicing and gym work so I was surprised and saddened by the announcement since I was expecting his return to the pro tour.

The next 12 days was a blur as I counted down to the Laver Cup knowing it was possibly the last time we would see Roger on court. It was fun, emotional and nostalgic, looking back at a phenomenal career. Little did I know that a camera crew had been following along and it would lead to a documentary coming to Amazon Prime Video tomorrow.

Thats what Twelve Final Days aims to bring to Roger fans and probably a new audience that didn’t live every minute of that time. As I entered the screening at the Tribeca Film Festival I was expecting to get very emotional but it never really came.

If you are a die hard fan Twelve Final Days is a rehash of what we already saw during the Laver Cup in London that year. In that respect it’s a fun reminder and memento but you don’t really learn anything new. You do get some insight into what it was like for Roger and his family preparing for the announcement and get some behind the scenes of the Laver Cup tournament. There are funny moments as Roger waits for the news to break and a little incident involving a tuxedo shirt. There are also emotional moments of an interview with Roger’s wife Mirka, as she gives her thoughts on his career and seeing the depth of his friendship with Rafael Nadal. The locker room scenes were also particularly insightful.

Stylistically it was pretty evident that this was initially a pretty cool home video. The audio mixing was not perfect and the hand held nature of it gave the feel of a dad capturing memories of his family for posterity. If there is one thing other tennis documentaries can take away from this its the way they cut together Roger’s last tennis match where he played doubles with Rafa. I had forgotten how close that match was and the edit was exciting and suspenseful. Netflix’s Breakpoint could have taken notes from that section.

But I wasn’t the emotional wreck I thought I would be in at the end. I will definitely see this movie again when it is released on Prime and it will probably become something I come back to when I am feeling nostalgic and will join documentaries like Strokes of Genius and Resurfacing that I have seen multiple times over the years.

Would rate this a 4 out of 5 tennis balls as a feature; 5 out 5 as a piece of memorabilia for fans.

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