Roger Federer: 'It would be great to see me and Rafa vs. Denis and Felix'
"I think it's easy to play in a stadium where there is a lot of engaged people. I think the harder part is how do I go out and practice, you know, in front of sort of a fence, a few bushes? That's the hard part, you know, sometimes. But that's where I surprise myself that it's not that big of a deal. I think it's easier for me today because I know how hard it was for me when I was younger, how much I dreaded another practice session and how bored I would get after an hour, hour and 15 because I wouldn't understand how many forehands and how many backhands can you hit before you get super bored? I think that was the tricky part for me.
Nowadays I realize that I know what kind of work is required to be able to perform in front of the full stadium, and that's what I play for, those moments where I can play the best, hopefully beat the best and come up with good shots, and the crowds get into it. For me, the motivation there is not an issue. It might be somewhere completely different. Am I in the mood to pack another bag? Am I in the mood to beat another jet lag? And all those other things, these are the tough questions when you get older. About the Laver Cup, look, I think it was just a goal of maybe uniting different generations of players, you know.
Somebody like Denis Shapovalov or Felix Auger-Aliassime to be on the team with the likes of myself or Rafa or anybody, for that matter, and they can learn from us. But then they can also learn from the captains Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, and also in the spirit where Rod Laver walks the corridors with you. All of a sudden they look back at tennis history, and they're, like, so many guys who paved the way, and hopefully more and more legends are willing or happy to come to the Laver Cup and have just sort of a fun, great weekend of tennis and all to get a great mix going together.
I think that would be wonderful if it became an incredible competitive all-star weekend, to call it that way. That would be my dream, to look back in 20 years and say that every Laver Cup weekend was fun, and the first two did that for sure, and I had the pleasure to play in some of them. Maybe down the stretch I will be involved in some shape or form, but that's still far away, hopefully."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2UqjhiA
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