Pablo Andujar on Roger Federer: To my eyes, he is a myth

World No. 68 Pablo Andujar acknowledged that beating Roger Federer at the Geneva Open gave him the confidence for the French Open.

Two weeks ago, Andujar recovered from a set down to beat former world No. 1 Federer in the Geneva round-of-16.

This Sunday, Andujar recovered from two sets down to beat No. 4 seed Dominic Thiem 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-4 in the French Open first round. 

"Beating Federer gave me confidence. Those victories (Federer, Thiem) are the one I'm enjoying the most. I had good 2014, 2015 years, yes. Maybe I have less legs but I play better tennis and I'm enjoying more," Andujar said after beating Thiem, per Tennis Majors.

Federer is a record 20-time Grand Slam champion and one of the greatest tennis players ever. 

"The greatest victory of my career? For me it's Federer, in Geneva. To my eyes, he is a myth," Andujar noted. 

Andujar sent Thiem packing 

After winning the third and fourth set to force a decider, Andujar started the fifth set with a break. 

Andujar blew the first break of the fifth set but broke Thiem again in the fifth game and then held on to his serve to complete a comeback win. 

"I was not struggling at all with my motivation, but the game was just not there today,” Thiem said. “Like all the shots are missing power. They are not accurate enough. I’m moving not well enough, so everything in my game there are some percents missing…. It’s just not good enough at the moment. And, yeah, it’s very tough situation.

“It’s amazing to reach such a big goal (of a Grand Slam title), but at the same time something is different after. As I said before the tournament, it’s a big learning process. Despite the loss — which hurts so much — I still hope I can bounce back stronger than before. 

“But right now I don’t know when the moment is coming.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3p3KCnw