‘Now They Are Playing With The Big Boys’ – Roger Federer Upbeat Over Future Of Men’s Tennis

Roger Federer has admitted that he is becoming more wary of his younger rivals on the tour as he bid to one day beat Jimmy Connors’ all-time record for most ATP titles won.

The world No.2 said there has been ‘big improvements’ on the tour in recent times despite the disparity in the ages between the men’s elite. Currently in the world’s top 20 there are nine players aged over 30 with four of those being in the top 10. In that group only Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas are current members of the Next Generation. A group of players under the age of 21 tipped to be the next big thing in the sport.

“What I like is that I’m seeing big improvements now. Not like there were none beforehand, but now they are playing with the big boys and really able to challenge us, beat us, having good rivalries also within each other, which I think is important for them to improve as players.” Federer commented about his younger rivals.

Whilst they may be positive signs, a gap remains for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing dominance of the Big Three. A trio consisting of Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Between them, they have won 51 out of the past 59 grand slam tournaments. Furthermore, the last 13 majors have been won by players in their 30s.

However, Federer believes the rivalry between the rising stars are aiding their rapid rises on the tour. Something that helped him develop as a player growing up on the tour. Federer didn’t win his first ATP title until the age of 20 at the Milan Open. He was 22 when he won his first grand slam title at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships.

“I remember when I was coming up and I had (Marat) Safin, (Andy) Roddick, (Lleyton) Hewitt, (Wayne) Ferreira and everybody. You don’t want to be the last guy of that group. Preferably first, but if you can’t be first for the time being, well, you don’t want to be the last.” He explained.
“I think it really creates good intentions to actually wanting to improve faster, and I see that right now. We didn’t think that (Stefanos) Tsitsipas was going to come up as quickly as he did. He had an unbelievable year from a year and a half ago. And to (Daniil) Medvedev now, his run is crazy. (Karen) Khachanov winning Paris, that was unexpected.’
“Each one of them has really shown some really good matches and some great runs.”

Federer is participating in the Shanghai Masters this week. On Tuesday he got off to a winning start by defeating Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets. He will play either David Goffin or Mikhail Kukushkin next.

This week the 38-year-old is bidding to win his 103rd ATP title. The second highest tally of all-time after Connors’ record of 109.

Federer’s Vs top 20 players under the age of 23

*Figures as of October 9th 2019