Roger Federer
Tennis - Wimbledon - London, Britain - July 16, 2017 Switzerland’s Roger Federer poses with the trophy as he celebrates winning the final against Croatia’s Marin Cilic Reuters / Daniel Leal-Olivas

The 35-year-old version of Roger Federer is revered for his eloquence and humility. However, 16-year-old Federer was into heavy metal music, WWE and video games, besides livening up the locker room with childish antics.

David Law, a former ATP communications manager has revealed that Federer was just like any other teenager. “Anything loud (was the type of music Federer listened to). I know Peter Lundgren (former Swiss player) used to take him out in a hire car in Miami and they’d stick on AC/DC and he’d sing it and shout it at the top of his lungs. People don’t realise what an exuberant character Roger Federer is, how loud he likes to be," Law told The New York Post.

Federer, according to Law, would pretend to be WWE superstar Hulk Hogan in the locker room shower. “In the locker room and the showers he’d be screaming at the top of his voice doing impersonations of other players and characters that he might have seen in the World Wrestling Federation and things like that just because he had so much energy. I don’t think I’d ever seen anybody on the circuit with this much energy.”

Teenaged Roger Federer was lazy, according to Marc Rosset

Marc Rosset, 1992 French Open champion, was taken aback by Federer's attitude when he first practised with the Swiss prodigy.

“I remember the first time I practised with him … he was the new talented guy in Switzerland, but he was so lazy. Usually when you practice on the tour as a young guy you are a little bit stressed, you want to play good, you’re very nervous. The guy came on the court like he didn’t care at all. I was like, ‘Wow,’" said Rosset, Federer's former Davis Cup teammate.

Roger Federer, the 19-time Grand Slam champion, has been lauded for his work ethic since winning his first of eight Wimbledon titles in 2003.

In 2017, Federer has maintained a 31-2 win-loss record in 2017, bolstered by two Grand Slam titles (Australian Open and Wimbledon), the Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters and Halle Open. Federer, who turns 36 on Aug. 8, enters the 2017 US Open as the odds-on favourite. The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year would run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10.

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