On Friday, May 24, 2013 Roger Federer took part in a Reddit IAmA online chat, answering fan questions. Like most interviews, Rog took the opportunity to be informative, interesting, and amusing. Fans were happy to see that the Maestro’s charm was highly translatable through this online medium.

With only a finite amount of time to answer questions, Rog didn’t get to them all, but he answered a lot. Here are some of our fave questions and replies. You can see the entire chat session, with responses from fans, at Reddit here.

I’m Roger Federer, a professional tennis player from Switzerland. AMA!

Thick_as_a_Brick: Hey Roger, just wanted to say that I’m a huge fan of yours. One of the best things I’ve ever read about you has to be David Foster Wallace’s piece for the NY Times. Have you ever read it? If so what did you think of the way he characterized you?

Federer: I have read it. The thing that struck me is that I only spent 20min with him in the ATP office at Wimbledon, and he was able to produce such a comprehensive piece. (Ed. I gave this piece some love with a YouTube video tribute.)

Federer: I really loved that outfit. Under the lights in NYC. All black. That was awesome. No plans yet to bring it back yet.. but we’ll see. (Ed.: Here’s OUR Darth Federer.)

youngjabberwocker: Hey Roger! I’m a big fan of watching you play! Since players like you, Nadal, or Djokovic have all started off as young players, what advice do you have for young tennis players who have dreams of going professional?

Federer: Take up Football. No just kidding.

1 You have to enjoy what you’re doing.

It’s not always easy but it sure is a whole lot of fun traveling the world, meeting people, learning different cultures and playing against other great people and players. For that, you need to work really hard and play tough and fair. And learn from your losses and your disappointments and make sure you don’t look back with regrets.

Brendinio: Dear Roger, if there was one rule of tennis you could alter, what would it be?

Federer: A rule that would only let ME serve from the service line. Whenever I want. Seems fair to me 🙂

On a serious note: we should get some more Best of 5 set finals back (like at the ATP World Tour finals).

Federer45: How do you keep your hair so perfect?

Federer: I really don’t. I fight it every day like everybody else. But thanks.

jctennis123: In every picture I see of you, you are looking directly at the ball through the strings and your hitting arm is perfectly straight. No other pro in the world does this as well as you. Here is an example I put together of you doing this compared to Murray, Djokovic, and Nadal (picture album) http://imgur.com/a/yNzX1#0. My question is, is there a way I can copy this technique?

Federer: seeing the pictures are really interesting. funny enough I don’t think consciously about looking directly at the ball, but I guess you’re right. it’s just habits and the way I was taught to play tennis. (Ed.: Pretty cool that he actually looked at the pics.)

dielon1217: Hi Roger! How do you do that between the legs shot without hitting yourself in a very painful place?

Federer: Nothing bad ever happened. So i’ll keep doing it 🙂

AlfaAlfalfa: What is your reaction to this?

Federer: For you baseball fans out there: Strike 1.

And our favorite, of course:

AmbientTech: You and Rafa filmed a commercial advertising charity matches. In this clip, you could not hold your laughter at all. The same thing happened when Pedro Pinto interviewed you for CNN International. Is spanish your Achilles Heel?

Federer: It’s funny I actually spoke to Rafa yesterday about that commercial. We had a close moment again yesterday at a Nike appearance. He insists it must have been because of his spanish accent. He couldn’t start a sentence without me already cracking up. It was a hilarious 5min for all of us.

You might also enjoy: How to Spot a True Federer Fan