'It was an honor to play in the era of Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic', says ATP ace

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are the only players who have played 5 finals at least in every single Grand Slam event: with the final here in Paris Djokovic has in fact reached the final 5 times in Paris, 8 times at the Australian Open, 6 times in Wimbledon and 8 at the US Open. Compared to the other two Djokovic has played fewer finals and at the same time does not have a Grand Slam tournament that dominates in this sense, but there is more balance. Rafael Nadal played 13 finals at Roland Garros (12 wins plus tomorrow's match) and 5 finals in the other 3 Grand Slam events. Different situation for Roger Federer who has won 20 Grand Slam titles in 31 finals playing 12 finals in his beloved Wimbledon, 7 finals at the Australian Open and the US Open and finally 5 finals at Roland Garros. Here is the only tournament where he won only once in 2009 while he lost the other 4 finals played. Austrian player Jurgen Melzer recently spoke about his biggest claim to fame - beating Novak Djokovic after going 2 sets to love down. Melzer also revealed his future plans, and confirmed that 2020 would be his last full season on the tour.

Melzer on 2010 French Open win over Djokovic

"Yes, of course it's nice to be mentioned again and again," Jurgen Melzer said. "Perhaps this single match (over Novak Djokovic) was also my biggest singles success but I also have fond memories of the victories against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi. There have been a few cool matches in my career where I was able to win against the big guys. That's why I can only look back positively." Jurgen Melzer also spoke about his experience of playing in the same era as the Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. "It was an honor to play in this big era," the 39-year-old said. "I was also lucky enough to be able to play against people like Andre Agassi or Tim Henman at the beginning of my career. It is a time when there were so many good players. My year alone is impressive: I don't know how many top 10 players emerged from the 1981 year," Melzer added. "Hewitt, Federer, Davydenko, Robredo, Lopez - these are just the players I can think of on the fly. In the juniors, I also played with Nalbandian or Coria. In the end, I made it into the top 10," he said. "This sure is something that I will be proud of for the rest of my life. At the beginning of my career I would definitely have signed that." Melzer will take over the position of the sports director at the Austrian Tennis Association next year. "2020 will definitely be my last season on the ATP tour," Melzer said. "Of course, I hope that we can top it off with a Masters run in London. After the Australian Open , I will work as a sports director for the Austrian Tennis Association. I will be responsible for a few things on the sporting side and manage the sporting business."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/31OxY1f