Directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia | 88 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Amazon Prime

I’ve been a tennis fan for many years, and I think it’s fair to say Roger Federer was my way into the sport.

His ineffable elegance on the court, his many wins on all surfaces, his longevity, and his competitive spirit — his astonishing achievements have been overshadowed only by his role as an ambassador for the sport. Rafael Nadal is the King of Clay with 14 French Open victories, an unassailable achievement. Novak Djokovic will have the most Grand Slams, 24 — maybe more as he’s still playing. But Roger is the most admired for his grace as a player and class as a person, the King of Tennis.

The documentary follows him around for the days between the morning he announced his retirement from his office in Basel to his final competitive match at the Laver Cup in London. We get to see Roger hanging out with his kids, arriving in a private jet, being interviewed, in the gym, and finally on the court as he plays his last match, doubles with his friend and greatest rival, Rafa. It’s lovely, melancholy and moving — it allows us to bear witness to the emotional end of an era, without offering a lot that’s unexpected.

We see how important his family is, and how he found community with his fellow players. The interviews with Nadal and Djokovic express the mutual respect they all had for each other, and the footage from their matches is well-chosen. The footage from that last match of the Laver Cup is as tearful as I remember. What I appreciated about that night was that Roger and Rafa especially weren’t afraid to show their real emotions, and how much they cared about each other.

Fans of all these guys will say, “imagine what they could have achieved if they’d played at a time where the other two guys weren’t there.” I think what made this era so special was the rivalry, that they each forced the other to be better, and that includes the Scottish champion, Andy Murray. We’ll never see their like again, how they dominated the sport for close to two decades.

Federer: Twelve Final Days is the official account, something for real fans, though if you count yourself as one this is unlikely to reveal much you don’t already know. As a celebration of what Roger meant to the sport it’s fitting without being outstanding. If you’re not a fan, this should give you some sense of why he was so admired.