DCU students organise Roger Federer charity match
DCU students, Jamie and Ollie, caught the attention of eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer recently.
They took it one step further and challenged the Swiss tennis player to a match, and to their surprise, he agreed.
SPIN's Fully Charged with Graham and Nathan caught up with the lads this morning.
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What happened?
Before we get to the Fully Charged interview, here's a quick explanation of what happened.
The 21-year-olds tagged Roger in a video of them playing a tennis match on Instagram Stories.
It wasn't long before he replied, 'Great skills - would love to come and play you guys after lockdown.'
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Once they got over their initial shock, the boys sent a voice note, asking Roger to come to Ireland for a match.
"Let's quit all the talk and make it happen," they said.
The tennis player replied with a voice note of his own, "I loved the video, I thought it was great," he began.
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Roger added, "The tennis is looking good but maybe a bit of work needed with the footwork."
"I think we should definitely do something with my charity. Send an email to my agent and we'll sort something out."
Ollie posted the exchange on Instagram, which you can check out below:
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The Fully Charged interview
The lads told Fully Charged with Graham and Nathan that they tagged the tennis player as a joke.
So understandably, they were shocked when he replied a couple hours later.
Ollie said, "He must have just been scrolling through his phone, obviously lockdown and everything."
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Jamie said, "We didn't reply to him instantly, that's the thing."
"Me and Ollie, we always want to make the best out of situations so we were like, 'Let's formulate a voice note to send back to him.'"
So that cheeky quote, "Let's quit all the talk and make it happen," was a pre-scripted line, and it worked a charm.
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The lads described Roger's response as, "unfathomable," and just, "crazy."
Jamie revealed his pal Ollie hasn't been able to sleep with the shock and excitement of it all.
Ollie chimed in, "Yeah, I haven't eaten my dinner..."
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Roger Federer's agent
Graham asked the lads if they've contacted the tennis player's agent yet.
Ollie replied, "Obviously we're in this pandemic so nothing can really happen soon..."
"We've been in contact with his agent, we've exchanged emails, but obviously we can't really plan anything..."
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While it might take a while before a plan is put in place, the boys are certain Roger is keen to make it happen.
"They look very keen to do it and it's very plausible," Jamie said.
Nathan wanted to know, "What is the dream? What do you want to happen?"
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Ollie is keeping it simple, he just wants to meet Roger for now.
"If we get to meet Roger, whether that's here, whether that's somewhere else, that is our dream."
Graham asked the boys if they'd consider playing a game of tennis with him and Nathan, "just for a bit of practice."
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"Oh my... one million percent. After this call, we're gonna go and practice!" Jamie replied.
Nathan described their tennis skills as, "raw... but I do find, when Graham serves, he often gets my back."
Listen to the full chat below:
Fully Charged with Graham and Nathan, weekday mornings from 7am on SPIN 1038.
