New Delhi:
Roger Federer is considered one of the greatest players to have ever played the game of tennis. With 20 Grand Slam titles, including eight Wimbledon titles, a grand slam and an Olympic gold in doubles, Federer has almost achieved everything that there is in the game of tennis. Thanks to his achievements, Federer is all set to get a grand honour in Switzerland. According to a report in Unilad, the Swiss maestro will become the first living person in Switzerland to be honoured on a coin. In sporting parlance, he becomes the first athlete to appear on a coin. Swissmint, the Federal Mint in the country, will release a 20 Swiss francs silver coin in January 2020 and follow it up with a 50 francs gold coin with a different design in May 2020.
This is the first time in the history of the Swiss mint that a coin has been dedicated to a living person. In a statement by Swiss Mint, they explained the rationale behind having Federer imprinted on a coin. "In addition for his sporting brilliance, Federer is the perfect ambassador for Switzerland. He has a unique way of embodying likeability, down-to-earthness, success and eloquence," the statement read.
However, for the first time, Federer broke the internet not just for his tennis play but because of this achievement. Due to the high demand, Swiss Mint had opened a pre-sale for the silver coin in 'uncirculated' quality. The silver coin will be sold in limited edition of 95,000 coins for 30 Swiss Francs (roughly 2200 Indian rupees). Such was the demand for the coins that the Swiss Mint website crashed. "We had 2.5 million clicks. It was too much for the shop to handle. We expected and planned for high demand, but we never imagined it would be this big. When Roger posted a link on his social media channels the website immediately had problems due to all the traffic. Some fans could access the shop but could not finish the order. Others could not get onto the website," said Swissmint CEO Marius Haldimann. The Federer coins can only be ordered online, unlike others issued by Swissmint, which can also be ordered by phone.
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Federer was defending the 2018 title at his hometown event in Basel. The victory improved his career record at the tournament to 72-9 and increased his Basel win streak to 21 straight matches. Federer, who has made the Basel final on all of his last 12 visits, owns ATP titles this season in Dubai, Miami and Halle.
