Roger Federer on His New Gig: Swiss Tourism Spokesman

I love walking through small villages where life is still normal. Small places where people drive tractors and there is a bakery, a church. The people in these places aren’t multitasking. They go about their days in a normal way. Someone shows up and they want to know, “Hey, what got you here?” It’s very friendly so you can always chat with people.

Tell us about some of the Swiss tennis clubs where visitors can eat well and play tennis.

Life in a tennis club in Switzerland is important. That’s how I grew up. There are many scenic places in Switzerland where you can play tennis. Geneva tennis clubwhere the Geneva Open Tournament being played is very nice. Geneva Eaux-Vives tennis club is also very nice. The clubs in Basel where I grew up in the interclub competition are very nice.

When I was growing up there was a boom in setting up tennis clubs, so every second village has its own club. We have to protect this tennis culture that we have. The restaurants in the tennis clubs are very important. A lot of the clubs I’ve played in have really good chefs, really good service, and very high quality. People spent a lot of time in the clubs so the food has to be good and it is usually for a good price too.

When you return to Switzerland from abroad, which Swiss dishes or delicacies do you long for? And if that includes chocolate, are you more of a milk chocolate type or a dark chocolate type?

I mean chocolate, hello, you have to love chocolate if you are Swiss. I used to be white, then I was milk, and now I even like to go dark. I like it all Then i like that Graubünden nut cake, it’s like a nut cake from the Graubünden region. That’s nice. And then of course there is Hash browns, a piece of potato. We have a dish called Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, which is like minced meat with a mushroom sauce, and i like to eat cordon bleu – that’s nice too.

Play the role of a travel agent for us. Where should we go when we have a week or two in your country?

Fly to Zurich or Geneva and drive from there. In summer I think you want to visit alfalfa and Interlaken and maybe visit them Virgin, Basel, Zurich, Bern, the capital – the city center is also very beautiful. We also have some incredible museums in Switzerland. The Beyeler Foundation Art museum is great. I am visiting the Tinguely Museumwhich is very interesting.

There are in Lucerne Swiss Transport Museum, this is still my favorite place to take my kids. It’s a wonderful place to see old trams, trains, planes, cars, bikes.