Asif Kapadia’s Roger Federer Documentary Captures the Subtle Art of Saying Goodbye
When acclaimed director Asif Kapadia agreed to help shape a documentary about Roger Federer’s retirement, he brought with him a reputation for chronicling the tragic ends of legendary figures. But unlike his previous works about Amy Winehouse and Ayrton Senna, this time Kapadia was documenting a different kind of ending – the carefully orchestrated finale of an athlete’s storied career.
The documentary “Twelve Final Days” began not with Kapadia, but with Joe Sabia, a relative tennis outsider who had previously interviewed Federer for a viral Vogue video series. When Federer’s team reached out about capturing his retirement announcement, Sabia found himself scrambling to Switzerland with a camera crew, uncertain of exactly what story would unfold. The resulting collaboration between Sabia and Kapadia, who joined later to help complete the project, offers an intimate glimpse into those pivotal two weeks.
Rather than attempting to encapsulate Federer’s entire 24-year career, the documentary maintains a laser focus on the retirement process itself. We see revealing moments like Federer explaining how he injured his career-ending knee injury while drawing a bath for his children. In a rare appearance, his wife Mirka reflects on their family’s life on tour. Even ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez appears, shown helping coordinate the PR strategy alongside her husband and Federer’s agent Tony Godsick.
The film’s power lies in its willingness to let small moments breathe. Asif Kapadia and Sabia resist the urge to craft a comprehensive career retrospective, instead allowing the weight of the ending to emerge through careful observation. A scene where Federer changes his shirt in front of everyone after Novak Djokovic comments on dress code speaks volumes about their complicated rivalry – competitive to the last, even in retirement.
“It’s a small film about big people,” as Kapadia describes it. While some might find the narrow timeframe limiting, the directors argue this intimate approach reveals more truth than a broader survey could capture. We see Federer not just as an icon, but as a 41-year-old father processing a seismic life change.
The documentary gains additional poignancy from its timing, catching what may be the last time tennis’s “Big Four” share a court at the Laver Cup. As Kapadia notes, while this film chronicles one ending, it foreshadows others to come as Nadal, Murray and Djokovic approach their own eventual retirements.
What emerges is a study in how to orchestrate a graceful exit from the global stage. Under the steady hands of Kapadia and Sabia, even Federer’s carefully managed departure reveals unguarded moments of vulnerability and truth. The result is a documentary that, like its subject, finds elegance in the art of knowing when to bow out.
The documentary manages to be both a fitting tribute to Federer’s career and an honest portrayal of a champion coming to terms with mortality – not of life, but of athletic excellence. Through Kapadia’s characteristically observant lens, we witness not just the end of a career, but the beginning of a legend’s afterlife.