‘Effortless is a myth’: Roger Federer’s Dartmouth College speech goes viral; Harsh Goenka reacts

Speaking to students at the Dartmouth College in the US, Federer shared three life lessons he learned, and called it 'tennis lessons'.

Roger Federer shares three inspiring life lessons (Image source: @Dartmouth)

Legendary Tennis player Roger Federer received an honourary doctorate at Dartmouth College in the US on Sunday. Federer delivered an inspiring, viral speech and got a commendation from industrialist Harsh Goenka.

In his speech, Federer shared three life lessons he learned during his tennis career. “I say that as someone who has heard that word a lot. ‘Effortless.’ People would say my play was effortless. Most of the time, they meant it as a compliment… But it used to frustrate me when they would say. ‘He barely broke a sweat!’” he said.

Sharing the second life lesson, he said, “You can work harder than you thought possible… and still lose. I have. I lost Wimbledon. I lost my number-one ranking. And suddenly, people said, ‘He had a great run. Is this the changing of the guard?’ But I knew what I had to do… keep working. And keep competing.”

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The third life lesson from the former Tennis player was, “Life is bigger than the court.”

“I worked a lot, learned a lot, and ran a lot of miles in that small space (tennis court)… But the world is a whole lot bigger than that,” he said. “Even when I was in the top five… it was important to me to have a life… a rewarding life, full of travel, culture, friendships, and especially family… I never abandoned my roots, and I never forgot where I came from,” he added.

Reacting to the video, Harsh Goenka wrote, “What wonderful lessons from Roger Federer.”

Watch the viral video here:

What wonderful lessons from Roger Federer pic.twitter.com/NJcg2ylO3k

— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) June 11, 2024

The video garnered over 1,68,000 views as many social media users hailed Federer. “Work can show us the world. But work cannot be the world,” a user wrote. “Such a humble soul.”

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