The great Roger Federer has nearly everything in common with the legends of the game, but there’s something keeping him from joining the ranks of Suzanne "La Divine" Lenglen, Rod "The Rocket" Laver, Ken "Muscles" Rosewall, Jimmy "Jimbo" Connors, Steffi "Fräulein Forehand" Graf and “Pistol" Pete Sampras: a proper nickname.
"Where I come from, we don't use nicknames very much," Federer explained. Though fans have dubbed him the GOAT (“greatest of all time”), Rafael “King of Clay” Nadal and Novak “The Djoker” Djokovic might have something to say about that when all is said and done.
Fans could go with Brad Gilbert’s current moniker for Federer, "RF 2.0," until it’s official—or until someone pries Rog’s private nickname out of his countryman and friend Stan Wawrinka. "We've been spending a lot of time [together] since we arrive on the tour with the Davis Cup, Olympics. We have many nicknames on the road," Wawrinka said. Asked to reveal one, he said, "No, sorry," with a knowing smile.
But Federer’s nicknames for Wawrinka have leaked out over the years. The most famous one, "Stanimal," stuck and became a Yonex T-shirt slogan. Fans also know him by "Stan the Man." There’s another: "the Diesel," because Wawrinka takes a while to warm up on the court.
Since tennis isn’t a team sport, the nicknames can be harder for fans to come by, but they are around. Danielle Collins has knocked off Stanimal for "Danimal," which fits her massive on-court intensity. To cheer on Bianca Andreescu, aka "Bibi," there are options. "My mom would always call me that when I was younger," she says. "People call me 'B,' 'Flying B,' 'Queen B' and 'Roller Coaster B' because of what happened in Toronto [this year]," she said.
Gilbert, the sport’s unofficial chairman of the nickname committee, is sticking with "Bibi" for now. For Russian Daniil Medvedev, new to the ATP Top 5 this month, he has settled on "Meddy Bear." "He actually told me that his name means bear, so that’s perfect," Gilbert said.
Maria Sakkari is "Sak Attack," Dominic Thiem is the "Dominator" and Nick Kyrgios has been called "Wild Thing" and, reportedly, "Box Office" by friend Andy Murray.
For Coco Gauff, he coined OMG—as in "Oh, my Gauff" since Coco Puffs was taken—that’s what he calls Coco Vandeweghe. (Coco itself is a nickname for Gauff since her given name is Cori. Hence New Balance’s popular "Call Me Coco" T-shirt that members of her team have been wearing.)
Serena Williams was "SW19"—the well-known postal code for Wimbledon—until she won her 20th Grand Slam. Now she is SW23. "When I told her, she goes, 'Every time you do that, it’s only going to be short-term,'" Gilbert said.
Other Gilbertisms include: "Halepeno" (Simona Halep), "Madison Avenue" (Madison Keys), "FAO Schwartzman" (Diego Schwartzman), "Special K" (Kei Nishikori), "Kontador" (Johanna Konta), "Ruud Awakening" (Casper Ruud, who was almost "Ravishing Ruud") and newly minted "Brooks Brothers" (Jenson Brooskby, a teenager who made the second round of the US Open this year, and more commonly goes by J.T. among his friends).
Gilbert’s first rule is that players can’t nickname themselves. For this reason, he says, he rejects Alex de Minaur’s "Little Demon." "I can’t give him that. I call him 'D-Minor,'" Gilbert says. "Another one—he calls himself 'Big Foe.' And he uses it on his bag.” That would be Frances Tiafoe. "The guy’s only 6-foot-1. I’m sorry, you can be 'Little Foe.' You know what I got for him? 'Lighten Up Frances' from the movie Stripes."
Films are a favorite inspiration for Gilbert. One of his newest tags is "Hurk Locker" for Hubert Hurkacz. If you know where "Snake Pliskova" for Karolina Pliskova comes from, your name must be Kurt Russell. It’s a play on his character Snake Plissken from the 1981 movie Escape from New York.
Doubles teams might earn an exception to the cardinal sin of self-nicknaming. French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies go by "Team KraMies." They don’t have individual nicknames (Mies earned one from teammates at Auburn University—"Skype," for all the time he spent talking to his girlfriend in Germany), but inspiration struck recently. Asked by a reporter about their compatibility as a doubles team, they explained that they have no obvious weakness. "We both serve good, both return well, both good on the net. Just solid overall," Krawietz said. "German machines," Mies joked. Another reporter asked if they preferred Audi or BMW, and there it was—instant nicknames. "Actually, I am driving an Audi back home, and he’s driving a BMW," Mies said.
Australians have given the tennis world some of the best nicknames, like Darren "Killer" Cahill. But Ashleigh Barty just prefers "Ash." "That’s literally it. Nice and simple," she said, while declining to share the nicknames that she picked playing professional cricket while on a break from tennis a couple of years ago.
The short-and-sweet approach also works in a pinch. Wang Qiang goes by "Q," Pliskova hears "Kaja," Stefanos Tsitsipas is "Stef," and Miomir Kecmanvic answers to "Mischa." Gael Monfils is "La Monf," David Goffin is "La Gof," and Denis Shapovalov is simply "Shapo" (while his team is called the "Wolf Pack"). But remember, Alexander Zverev has requested to retire "Sascha," the common form of his name.
If Federer wins the 2019 US Open for his 21st major, Gilbert already has a replacement for "RF 2.0," held over from Wimbledon, where Rog was one point away from the title.
It’s "Black Jack."
