'When I was a child, I tried Roger Federer's serve', says Top 5

The Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati represents the ATP event that has finally given the green light to the men's circuit, after months of waiting following the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic around the world. Defender of the title was the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who won last year over David Goffin in the final. After winning the first matches against Marcos Giron and Aljaz Bedene, the Moscow tennis player was defeated in the quarter-finals by Roberto Bautista Agut, with the score of 6-1 4-6 3-6. In a recent interview with Eurosport, Daniil Medvedev recently spoke very highly of World No. 4 Roger Federer, calling him the greatest of all time. Medvedev also talked about whose playing style he tried to copy when he was young.

Medvedev on Roger Federer

"It's a tough question but at the moment it's Roger Federer (the best player of all time) because he has one more Grand Slams than any other player," Daniil Medvedev said. "If I could ask them one question, it would be: how do you win so many Grand Slam titles?" he said. "When I was a child, I used to copy some shots," Daniil Medvedev said. "For sure Marat Safin's backhand. But I also tried Roger Federer's serve. But then at one moment I realized that I have to develop my own style and that's what I did." The Big Three is a common tennis term for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. From the 2003 Wimbledon Championships up to and including the 2020 Australian Open, the trio have dominated men's singles, winning 56 of the 67 Grand Slam titles, with Federer accounting for 20, Nadal 19 and Djokovic 17. They have also occupied the top three positions of the year-end singles ATP Rankings eight times, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2019. The Big Three are the top three players of all-time in terms of Grand Slam titles won, as well as the top three players in terms of Major finals reached. Federer has reached 31 finals, Nadal 27, and Djokovic 26. They are the only three male players in history to win eight or more singles titles at the same Grand Slam: Nadal with 12 French Open titles, Federer with eight Wimbledon titles, and Djokovic with eight Australian Open titles. (On the women's side, Martina Navratilova won nine times at Wimbledon, while Molla Mallory won eight US Championships, a predecessor of the US Open).

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2QD2TI0