Peter Carter turns his Nuriootpa boyhood tennis passion into mentoring young Roger Federer on way to No.1
Peter Carter, from Nuriootpa in South Australia, as tennis coach of a young Roger Federer.
Peter Carter, originally from Nuriootpa in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, was the first most influential coach of 21st Century world tennis great Roger Federer. In 1991, playing and coaching at the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel, Switzerland, Carter identified and fostered nine-year-old Federer’s potential, with a strong influence on his technique and temperament.
Tennis was Peter Carter’s boyhood passion in Nuriootpa, a sport shared by his two brothers and parents, builder Bob and Diana. But it was as a player in South Australian primary schools’ Australian football that Carter came to Adelaide where his team coach, knowing Carter’s tennis talent, introduced him to Peter Smith. Smith, called the godfather of South Australian tennis coaching, steered the early careers of John Fitzgerald, Lleyton Hewitt, Brod Dyke, Mark Woodforde, Darren Cahill and others who went to international and national success.
Smith also immediately recognised Carter’s ability. Carter billeted at Smith's home while being coached (as did another South Australian young player from the country, John Fitzgerald).
With Darren Cahill, Carter won the 1985 Melbourne Tennis Tournament and reached 173 in singles and 117 in doubles on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) rankings but his career was hampered by injuries.
A switch to coaching took Carter to the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel, Switzerland. Federer recalled: "When I was little, he was one of the star players on the (club’s) team. I was able to have coaching lessons with him. Peter was a really important person in my life. Thanks to him, I have my entire technique and coolness. He wasn’t my first coach, but he was my real coach. He knew me and my game and he always knew what was good for me.”
In 2000, as Federer grew as a professional player, Carter, who was appointed captain of the Swiss Davis Cup team, was replaced by Peter Lundgren as his touring coach but they remained in close contact, especially during Davis Cup ties.
Carter died in a car accident in August, 2002 while on a belated honeymoon to Kruger National Park in South Africa. (His wife Sylvia had been recovering from Hodgkin's disease). Carter was in a vehicle that swerved off the road to avoid a head-on collision with a minivan. When the news hit Federer, in Toronto, he left his hotel and ran through the streets, crying.
“I’m very shocked and very sad,” he said of Carter's death. “Peter was a very close friend of mine. I was with him every day when I was a boy. Peter was very calm, but he was funny with a typical Australian sense of humour. I can never thank him enough for everything he gave me.”
In 2003, Federer claimed his first grand slam title and Wimbledon and dedicated his success to Carter. Federer maintained his link with “Carts” by providing airfares, accommodation and courtesy cars and seats in the Rod Laver stand for Carter’s parents, Bob and Diana, to travel from their Nuriootpa home every time he played at the Australian Open.
