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The Asif Kapa Dias and Joe Sabia doc shows the greatest male tennis players of the past two decades – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – how they’re not usually seen: in tears
By Daisy Jones
20 June 2024
Image may contain Roger Federer Rafael Nadal People Person Head Adult Face and Wristwatch
Courtesy of Prime
The following article contains minor spoilers for Federer.
Most women have seen their friends cry. We cry in the club toilets after break-ups and we cry when we’re frustrated with work and we cry because we felt like crying that day. We send crying selfies to each other, and we write messages in the group chat like “literally can’t stop crying rn.” The last time I cried in public was a couple of days ago. It was because I saw an old man on the dancefloor with his grandkids having a nice time. I will probably cry again this month because of something similar: a baby bird, an old memory, a dislodged feeling… you get the idea.
Men, though? Even now, that’s a little less usual. Especially among men over 35, who more often grew up under the notion that men who cry are weaker or less masculine somehow. It’s a deeply strange, old-fashioned idea that’s bound up in misogyny, homophobia and toxic masculinity – and which people have written endless books and films about – but it’s one that somehow persists. Which is why it was refreshing to watch Federer, the new documentary from Asif Kapa Diastolic (Amy, Senna) and Joe Sabia (the creator of Vogue’s ‘73 questions’), which is basically about men who aren’t afraid to cry. They aren’t afraid to cry alone, and they aren’t afraid to cry with each
other either.
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