Roger Federer: 'My first idol was Boris Becker, then it was Stefan Edberg
What were Roger Federer's idols as a kid? The Swiss player said: "First it was Boris Becker, I really admired and then everybody said, 'No, do not go for Boris, go for Stefan Edberg,' and I looked at Edberg and he was a really nice guy, and as both stopped, I went for Pete Sampras because he had a similar game but I do not have any idols anymore. I did not try to copy anybody or try to get the same shots but often I got compared to Pete Sampras because of my closeness probably. Because I played (with) the same clothes, Nike, same racket, Wilson."
What are his main strengths? "My serve, my forehand, I can read the game very well."
Federer also recalled when he trained with Martina Navratilova several years ago: "It was very exciting, she was so professional, she worked so hard, it was nice to see what she was doing. It helped give a bit of a look at her life as a number one, what she needed to do with the press."
Romanian businessman Ion Tiriac does not regret introducing blue clay courts back in 2012, at the Madrid Open. That year Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic said that they would not return to the event the following year if the surface's colour wasn't changed back to its original red. Tiriac was forced to get back to the red clay. In an interview, he said: "Some years ago, the public and everyone criticized me. But I was not affected by it. They were like: 'This Tiriac made changes, poor players...' Poor players? If I slide, the others do, too. This is what Mr. Roger Federer told me, who won the tournament. Now you have no rule on the color, ATP does not have a rule for colour."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XaDt5v
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