45 minutes ago, in Basel – his hometown – the familiar atmosphere of a tennis practice session turned into a nightmare. Roger Federer, the legendary 20-time Grand Slam champion, suddenly collapsed on his own practice court while performing familiar shots. There was no warning, no faint signal, just a cold collapse that left everyone watching dumbfounded for the first few seconds.

The scene quickly turned into chaos. The dry sound of metal falling from the racket hitting the ground echoed, mixed with the screams of fans watching outside the fence. Some people held their heads, many burst into tears, while medical staff rushed straight onto the court. Smoke and dust from paparazzi cameras flashed continuously, as if to capture each painful moment.

“He was smiling, talking to the coach… and then just a few seconds later, he collapsed. I couldn’t believe my eyes,” a witness shared, trembling.

The doctors on the scene immediately rushed to the emergency room. The artificial respiration sounded loudly, the AED electric shock machine continuously flashed red on the screen. “Clear!” – the doctor shouted before each electric shock. But Federer’s heart, the icon that had been beating strongly for two decades on the court, seemed to no longer respond. The minutes stretched endlessly, while fans clung to fragile hope through the iron fence.

The ambulance rushed in with its siren blaring. Federer was placed on a stretcher, his face covered with an oxygen mask, his body motionless but his face still imprinted with the appearance of a monument. When the car door slammed shut, the crowd exploded in screams, many fainted from shock. A group of young fans tried to squeeze through the fence, creating a dangerous jostling scene, forcing the police to immediately set up a blockade.

At the Basel hospital, the ICU emergency room was lit up with white lights all night. The monitor connected to Federer’s body kept flashing, the red alarm sounded repeatedly, making the doctors work tirelessly. They used every technique: cardiac stimulant, breathing tube, continuous electric shock… but all the fragile hope gradually faded.

Meanwhile, the outside world exploded. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook was submerged in millions of status lines with the hashtags #PrayForFederer and #GoodbyeRoger. From Zurich to New York, from Tokyo to Paris, fans gathered in groups, lit candles, held banners, prayed for their idol. “We lost the light of tennis,” a former colleague said in tears. The Swiss Prime Minister even announced that the flag would be lowered if the bad news was confirmed.

At midnight, the head doctor came out, his face heavy. He just shook his head, avoiding the eyes of dozens of reporters pointing their lenses. Behind the ICU door, Federer’s family hugged each other, their cries echoed throughout the hallway. His wife Mirka sobbed and could not stand, her children trembled and clung to their mother.

The next morning, Basel turned into a sea of ​​people. In front of the training ground where the accident happened, thousands of candles were lit, white flowers covered the road. A portrait of Federer was placed in the middle of a wreath, his face smiling brightly as in the memories of millions of hearts. “He is gone but will always live in us,” the trembling words were written on the poster.

And like a double incident, while the crowd was crowded to pray, a small bridge leading to the memorial suddenly collapsed due to overload. Dozens of fans were injured, ambulances continued to sound sirens, adding to the atmosphere of mourning. Basel – which was peaceful – suddenly became the center of global tragedy.

Roger Federer – the man who turned tennis into art, the man once called “Maestro” – now only exists in memories and tears. The world could not believe it, but the harsh truth was confirmed: a monument had just collapsed.