Roger Federer reveals what makes teenagers tough to play against
The 37-year-old Roger Federer is still among the players to beat on the ATP Tour, competing in the final at Indian Wells and staying on the title course in Miami, seeking the fourth crown in Florida. After a shaky start against Radu Albot, Roger raised his level against Filip Krajinovic, Daniil Medvedev and Kevin Anderson to advance into the semi-final, his 66th at Masters 100 level. There, Roger will play Denis Shapovalov, his first rival born in 1999 when he was making the first steps on the Tour, also as a teenager! This will be the clash of the one-handed backhands and also the encounter with the biggest age difference at Masters 1000 level since the quarter-final round!
In the press conference after a win over Anderson, Roger praised both Denis Shapovalov and Felix-Auger-Aliassime, another youngster who has reached the semi-final, saying it is always interesting to face a teenager as they bring new and open-minded tennis. Also, asked about the best shotmakers in the game, Roger picked Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt as his favorite ball strikers, the first one because of his skills at the net and the remaining two because of their excellent baseline game and the ability to hit any type of shots from any part of the court.
"I mean, it doesn't feel that different to when I played Rafa when he was super young, or anybody. Any teenager you play, once I think you're 23, feels different to playing anybody else, because you know they come out there and they might not know all the plays down to the T yet, but they don't have to because they just free-swing sometimes, and that makes it particularly dangerous, you know. I have always enjoyed playing against teenagers, I think it's fascinating. It's an exciting draw, I think, for John and for myself here, playing these young guys.
They are not just young, but they are very good players and nice guys. We should have two great semi-finals and it's great for the fans, to get them engaged. Yeah, for me, Pete, great shot making. I guess guys who came to the net, for me, always did the trick. To some extent also, maybe Hewitt and Agassi, with Andre's sheer domination from the baseline and the ability to take the ball on half-volleying, all that stuff, we didn't know that quite yet. And Hewitt's defensive skills, that he was able to pull off defensive shots like we almost haven't seen before. Yeah, that's what I remember."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2U49sXX
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