Roger Federer was regularly throwing racket in 1999, says opponent
Julien Boutter and Roger Federer faced each other times as professionals. In March 1999 Boutter won against the Swiss at the Grenoble Challenger in three sets, (4/6 6/2 6/3), then the Swiss took a revenge in February 2001 at the ATP Milan event winning 6-4 6-7 6-4 to conquer his maiden career-title. Federer also won in 2001 Basel. "He was nervous back in the day and he was regularly throwing his racket", Boutter told L'Equipe recalling the match they played in France. "That was not the case in Milan anymore. He had gone through that stage."
Boutter has some regrets looking back at the mistake made by the umpire. "After the second set tie-break, Lars Graf asked me to start the third and so serve as first. I did not have to, Roger had to."
Boutter admitted Federer was nice to watch even at the time: "His talent immediately stood out to my eyes. He had a certain game plan, an out if the ordinary arm. He was more aggressive than now, he was often coming to the net to close the points. He had some pressure on his shoulders because he was seen as the new (Pete) Sampras. He handled everything to do even better. With him, tennis looked easy and it especially got to the next level. He is game evolved, he is a player who always set himself the right questions. He speaks more about his loss in Grenoble than his win in Milan. I often get bothered with my friends. They tell me that if I won that day, our careers would have mixed each other (laughter). He can still win a Grand Slam and above all Wimbledon. The guy has been defying predictions and statistics for ten years. His longevity is unbelievable."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2uuysII
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