03 – Fly Over The Lawn – Stories Content

EPISODE 3

Fly Over the Lawn

This film aims at paying tribute to Roger’s physical particularities. Indeed, when Federer moves, he seems to be floating through the court. Like Barychnikov ! In the episode, football champion David Beckham will be in charge of exploring the theme of Roger’s physicality. He will tell us how much Roger has had to work to build himself a certain physicality but also how he has had to preserve and respect his body throughout the years. Beckham will then give choreographer Heinz Spoerli and the infamous ballerina Dorothée Gilbert, the task to create a new ambitious fo rm of ballet mixing dancers from the Opera with holographical projections of Roger Federer.

LOCATION

England / Wimbledon

CHIEF OF MISSION

Andy Murray

THEME

movements, Federer’s physicality, relaxing

GIVER

Heinz Spoerli, Dorothée Gilbert

TRIBUTE

a choreography mixing both Roger holograms and professional ballet dancers on a Wimbledon tennis court

GUESTS

Andy Murray, Heinz Spoerli and Dorothée Gilbert, Opera’s dancers, Pierre Paganini (Federer’s personnel trainer), David Bailey (expert in tennis movement) and Tim Henman

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

The introductive voiceover explains why we chose Andy Murray to talk about Federer’s apparently effortless physicality. He is a great fan of Rogers’. Andy Murray, Tim Henman and Heinz Spoerli visit Wimbledon making analogies between dance and tennis. Various images of Federer are then appearing on the screen showing us the grace and agility of his movements. He seems to be floating over the courtyard – John McEnroe even compared him to Barychnikov and Serena Williams to a ballerina, an analogy that has also been made in press articles. – This also gives us the opportunity to put an eye on his prowes in Wimbledon.

Tennis analytics specialist David Bailey identifies 15 different types of movements in tennis and shows us through various images that Federer masters all of them. Heinz Spoerli will then try to reproduce Roger’s tennis actions as dance movements.

Thanks to Tim Henman’s help, we will then demonstrate how the fake idea which implies that Roger’s tennis abilities are nothing but a gift is a lie. Indeed, Federer is a hard worker. The secret of his physical condition lies in his long time relationship with Pierre Paganini (Roger’s physical coach since his twenties). Together they have developed a both rigorous and respectful method for the athlete’s body : constant work with long periods of rest ! This philosophy of « body respect » enabled Roger to become the less wounded tennis player in the world.

Andy Murray, whose many physical injuries have been crumbling his career, gives us his opinion on the subject. An injury is a real nightmare for a champion. We will then see a compilation of major injuries in the history of tennis (Stitch, Azarenka, Pierce…).

During important games, Roger manages to balance both his body and energy. Statistics actually show that Roger is the champion that runs the less distance per match. – there will then be a parallel between Roger and his favorite animal: lions.

We will discover how Roger manages to get rid of his stress.

Gathering all these elements, Dorothée and Heinz will then perform a modern ballet on the Central Court of Wimbledon, accompanied by the Federer holograms.