Roger Federer: 'I'd be incredibly homesick for the first nine months'

Daniil Medvedev overtook Roger Federer at number 4 in the ATP ranking. Thanks to the perfect ride in Paris-Bercy, the Russian has collected 990 points, which bring him to 6,970 points in the ranking, against the 6,230 of the Swiss, who instead lost 400. This is the first time that Federer has dropped out of the first four positions in the ranking since February 25, 2019, when he occupied positions number 6 and number 7 for about a month. An absolutely understandable decline, given that Roger has been out for almost a year due to knee operations and that his descent in the ranking was slowed only by the exceptional situation that hit tennis with the Covid emergency. Remaining in the top-10, Stefanos Tsitsipas' second round defeat against Ugo Humbert caused him to lose a large amount of points and now he has climbed to number 7 - also overtaken by finalist Alexander Zverev - ahead of Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman who, despite the defeat against Daniil Medvedev, he secured the first participation in the ATP Finals of his career. Roger Federer recalls the hardships he faced during his teenage years in a recent video interview. The 20-time Grand Slam champion also paid tribute to his late coach Peter Carter in the video.

Federer on the hardships he faced during his teenage years

“My first ever match (in Switzerland), I lost 6-0, 6-0,” Roger Federer began. “I heard some rumours that the local federation were like, 'Well maybe he's not that good like we thought he was'." This spurred Roger Federer on to practise even harder and take part in more tournaments to improve his tennis. These factors, Federer believes, went on to make him the Junior Swiss Champion at the age of 12. “I kept on practising hard, I started playing more tournaments,” Federer continued. “I started to become very successful also, even as a junior, at least in my area. Nationally, I became Junior Swiss Champion for the first time when I was 12 years old.” Staying away from home for much of the week made Federer feel ‘homesick’, which, in turn, triggered a collapse in his form and confidence. “And off I went at 14 to the National Tennis Centre. I was in a great family from Monday to Friday and then I would only come home on the weekends, and I'd be incredibly homesick for the first nine months. Results dropped, I lacked confidence, couldn't speak the language, I really struggled," revealed Federer.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2IpkWR3