Stephen Curry and Roger Federer: Sharing a zest for life and just joy for the process

While observing Stephen Curry throughout the NBA Finals, it’s easy to see and admire how the Golden State Warriors superstar guard values and loves his routine of beautiful basketball. However, as easy as it may seem to us on the surface, the 34-year-old Curry, who is in his 13th season in the NBA, has put in a lot of time and energy – hard work – to become the player he is.

In Game 4 Friday in Boston, Curry’s 43-point performance showed why he’s one of the best to ever play the sport. While the Warriors prepared for Game 5 of the NBA Finals series against the Boston Celtics in San Francisco Monday night – a game which Golden State won 104-94 to take a 3-2 series lead – it was interesting to learn from their head coach, Steve Kerr, that Curry and the Warriors once drew inspiration from a meeting the team had with tennis great Roger Federer five years ago in Shanghai, China. 

Kerr told reporters that Curry was greatly inspired by how the 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer comported himself. What he learned from the Swiss icon centered around how the love of his routine helped to keep him motivated and to keep playing tennis.

As Kerr described the meeting, Federer was asked by one of the Warriors, Draymond Green, just how he managed to keep doing this for 20 years?

“And his answer was just simple, yet profound,” Kerr explained. “He said, ‘I love my daily ritual.’ He said, ‘I get up, make my kids breakfast, drop them off at school, go train and I’ve figured out the right training methods to keep me in the best position at my age. I love competing.’ He said, ‘But every single day, I put my head on the pillow at the end of the day and think, Man, what a great day.’

“So, I think of Steph a lot when I think of that story from Roger Federer. Very, very similar just sort of zest for life and just joy for the process.”

Like Federer, there’s a lot of work routine for Curry that includes time devoted to the training room, the weight room and, finally, the basketball court, where he practices taking shots from a variety of locations. If it seems like there’s a sense of clockwork, you’re right.

Kerr went on to describe in detail that for Curry, there’s a “sense of joy and energy within that work. 

“He enjoys it so much. He loves the process. I that’s one of the things that ties all great athletes together, like talking about the superstar athletes, the Roger Federers of the world, the Steph Currys of the world. There’s a routine that not only is super-disciplined but it’s really enjoyed each day.

“There’s a passion that comes with it, and that’s what sustains it over time. When you love something like those guys do, you work at it, you get better and you just keep going.”

It should come as no surprise, then, that over the weekend Federer, 40, shared his goals for the remainder of the 2022 season. He’s been idle since last year’s Wimbledon and has undergone two surgeries on his right knee. Federer plans to resurface in September at the Laver Cup in London, then finish out the season at in October the Swiss Indoors in Basel. Beyond that, who knows? 

“After Basel, the season is over anyway,” Federer told Swiss tennis journalist Simon Graf on Saturday. “It’s important for me to get fit again so that I can train fully. Once I’ve done that, I can choose how many tournaments I play and where. The Laver Cup is a good start, I don’t have to play five matches in six days.

“I will have to be able to do that in Basel. That’s why I have to prepare for it in practice. I’m curious myself what’s still to come. But I’m hopeful, I’ve come a long way. I’m not far away. The next three or four months will be extremely important.”

Asked by Graf if he wishes to return to the ATP Tour in 2023 at age 41, if his knee cooperates, Federer replied affirmatively. “Yes, definitely. How and where, I don’t know yet. But that would be the idea. Definitely.”

In the meantime, like Curry, Federer will continue sharing a zest for life and just joy for the process of routine.

Photos: Stephen Curry, courtesy of Golden State Warriors Twitter; Roger Federer, courtesy of Instagram.