"We need more Roger Federers" - Bill Gates quotes David Epstein to explain why Federer's approach is built for success
American business magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates believes the world needs more people like Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer. The 65-year-old Gates, who is the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, backs one of the theories put forward by reporter David Epstein in his new book, "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World".
Gates recently revealed the five best books he had read in 2020, and Epstein's books was one of those featured on the list. In the book, Epstein cites the example of Roger Federer as someone who had "embraced diverse experiences and perspectives" before succeeding in a specialized field.
Federer played several different sports as a child, and didn't focus on tennis until his teenage years. That, along with his parents' easygoing attitude, played a critical role in Federer's success as a tennis player, according to Epstein.
Gates referred to that line of reasoning while talking about Roger Federer in his blog.
"Here’s the surprising part about Roger’s greatness: As a young kid, he didn’t focus on tennis and didn’t get fancy coaching or strength training," Gates wrote. "He played a wide range of different sports, including skateboarding, swimming, ping pong, soccer and badminton. He didn’t start playing competitive tennis until he was a teenager. Even then, his parents discouraged him from taking it too seriously, delaying specialization and accumulating a breadth of different experiences."
"I learned this from reading a good, myth-debunking book called Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World," Gates added. "The sports journalist David Epstein uses Roger’s experience as his opening example of the underappreciated benefits of delaying specialization and accumulating a breadth of different experiences. 'In a world that increasingly incentivizes, even demands, hyperspecialization,' he writes, 'we … need more Rogers: people who start broad and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives while they progress'."
When I watch Roger Federer play, I'm in awe: Bill Gates
Bill Gates is quite familiar with the 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. The American partnered Federer in the Match for Africa exhibition event in February this year, just prior to the ATP tour shut-down.
Gates talked about that event in his blog, before adding that Federer's tennis gives the impression of being touched by the supernatural.
"Just before COVID-19 hit, I was paired with Roger Federer in a tournament to benefit children’s education in Africa," Gates wrote. "When I watch Roger play, I’m in awe. As the late novelist David Foster Wallace wrote, he is 'one of those rare, preternatural athletes who appear to be exempt, at least in part, from certain physical laws'."
This year marked the sixth edition of the exhibition series organized by Roger Federer, and took place in Cape Town. Besides Federer, it also featured Rafael Nadal, Bill Gates and Trevor Noah, the host of The Daily Show.
Federer and Gates defeated Nadal and Noah 6-4 in the doubles set while in singles, Federer defeated Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The event created a record for the highest attendance in a tennis match, with 51, 954 recorded spectators, and raised nearly $3.5 million towards children's education in Africa for Federer's foundation.