'Roger Federer has worked very hard', says American player

Gilles Simon went down hard when he was asked to give his opinion on Novak Djokovic's Adria Tour. The French veteran had accused fans of being too strict with Novak Djokovic, while attributing the aura of untouchable to Roger Federer. Since then, there have been numerous debates about the difference in popularity between the Swiss and the Serbian. The World number 1 has been the great ruler of the last decade, as well as having managed to break the Federer-Nadal duopoly in the men's circuit. Thanks to the success of the Australian Open 2020, Nole has reached 17 Grand Slam titles, ever closer to his eternal rivals. Djokovic is also in the running to become the player with the most weeks at the top of the world rankings. In the latest episode of the 'Match Point' podcast, Noah Rubin recognized Federer the merit of having created the best possible image of himself in recent years.

Rubin on Roger Federer

"Over the years, whether it is because of being the fan favorite or something else, Roger Federer has created this persona," said Noah Rubin. "I think a lot of fans also remember Novak Djokovic and his scandal about faking an injury and other things he started, for which he got a PR team to build him up from those positions. There's some mistakes that Djokovic has made. Federer has as well but at different levels. I think at this point, they are on different pedestals. I do think that Djokovic has to fight what the media is saying but Federer has built this from the ground up, he has worked very hard," Rubin added. "Federer was a racquet-throwing 18-year-old that turned into this perfect persona, that despite making a few mistakes, has upheld those high standards," he went on. Rubin had criticized Djokovic himself for not attending the players' conference during the lockdown. The World number 225 believes that Novak's missteps have been too many in recent years, helping to give him the image of an antagonist compared to Federer. The Swiss Maestro last played at the 2020 Australian Open in January following which a knee surgery forced him to call off the rest of his 2020 season. His decision to not play for the rest of the season means that this will be the first time since 1999 that the US Open will be played without Federer or Rafael Nadal participating in it.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3iq99OP