“She Told me I Was so Young When She Kissed me”: Roger and Mirka Federer’s 21-year Romance

Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer may be renowned for his all-time record — which he shares with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — as the victor of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, but he’s not the only professional tennis player in the Federer family.

Miroslava ‘Mirka’ Federer, Roger’s wife of 12 years, was actually a top-100 ranked player at the time of her retirement in 2002 due to a foot injury. Now, she’s Federer’s public relations manager and handles a lot of his media affairs.

Their mutual love of tennis is actually what brought the couple together in the first place

The duo’s love story began at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics; Roger, who had just turned 18, was paired up with the then-22-year-old Mirka to compete as a doubles pair for Switzerland. Their two-week-long trip Down Under culminated in a kiss in a dormitory full of wrestlers.

“We were both playing for Switzerland in tennis,” Roger recalled in 2019 of their first kiss, “and then we spent two weeks together in those dorms. We were together with the wrestlers and all the other cool athletes. I guess over the two weeks, we built up some chemistry.”

One of the wrestlers told Roger to kiss Mirka, but he wasn’t so sure. Eventually, after the wrestler egged him on, he went for it — but even though they kissed, Mirka thought Roger was too young

“She told me I was so young when she kissed me. I tried to tell her I was almost 18-and-a-half. I tried to sneak in a quarter year,” the now-40-year-old said.

For two years, the couple managed to keep their love affair under wraps, but their romance became public at the 2002 Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia, as they teamed up for a mixed doubles match.

The chemistry was palpable between them during their on-court post-match interview

After nine years of dating, a few weeks after they announced Mirka’s first pregnancy, Roger and Mirka tied the knot on April 11, 2009 at Villa Wenkenhof in Riehen.

A few months after their wedding, the Federers welcomed their now 12-year-old twins, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva. In 2014, Roger and Mirka became parents again, welcoming another set of twins, sons Leo and Lenny.

The four Federer children are often seen at their father’s matches, which is made possible by the fact that they are homeschooled, meaning they can easily follow Roger around the world.

Roger is not shy when it comes to gushing about Mirka, who comes to every single one of his tennis games. He has previously said that being with a fellow tennis player has made him a better person and a better athlete, as his wife knows what it takes for Roger to succeed.

In fact, speaking with the Sunday Times last year, Roger said that it would have been likely that he and Mirka divorced had she not retired from tennis when she did, because they never would have been able to see each other.

The duo love being together so much, that Roger even told the publication he won’t sleep unless Mirka is beside him.