Tennis will still be attractive after Roger Federer retirement - Wilander
Everyone often asks themselves how tennis will look like once Roger Federer retires. Thanks to him the game has drawn unbelievable numbers in terms of crowd attendance, TV ratings. The seven-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander believes there are some similarities between the Basel native and Bjorn Borg. 'You can compare it to Bjorn Borg', Wilander told Eurosport speaking about the post Federer's tennis. 'When he stopped, I think that clearly all of us were shocked. But because of it I won the French Open the following year, when a new 17-year-old Swede came. Then Yannick Noah comes and manages to win in 1983. And then John McEnroe will win in 1984. Probably there were five, six players who were in replacement of Bjorn Borg's shoes. Then John McEnroe had his best year ever on Tour and he lost just two matches, it happened much later than Borg's retirement. Federer will be the greatest player ever, no players will be able to replace him. With Bjorn Borg tennis was a global sport, then Federer made the sport global again. His shoes will never be full but there are a lot of younger players who have a completely different attitude that will not be loved in the same way but it will be attractive in a different way.'
Wilander will be back on the road at the Australian Open working for Eurosport, which he has been doing since 2002. He analyzes matches with Barbara Schett, who interviewed by Expressen spoke about her role and co-operation with Wilander. 'In the last years, I commented a little on Eurosport. I knew that I wanted to do it. And it was important to me to know what I would have done', said Schett.
She is also satisfied with the new programme Game, Schett and Mats: 'There were unbelievably positive reasons. No one ever said that they hate our shots. They watch or they do not.'
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2V8jRyQ
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