Former Australian Open semifinalist Patrick McEnroe has revealed the biggest reason behind current World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and 19-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer’s dominance on the ATP tour.
McEnroe, a former No. 28, was in awe of the incredible success of the two superstars in their 30s. He was particularly impressed with the way Federer has looked after his body, even at the age of 36, claiming the Basel native was an absolute genius in almost every aspect of his game. On the other hand, Nadal wasn’t too far behind as he is quite meticulous while planning every mini detail about his fitness.
McEnroe also praised Federer’s trainer Pierre Paganini, whose tremendous work has helped Federer in regaining his fitness many a times in his career.
McEnroe told ESPN: “Yeah, I don’t know him (Pierre Paganini) personally that well. I think it was Chris Clarey who had a piece in the Times around the Open. Clearly the guy knows what he’s doing. He could have done that with someone like me and it wouldn’t have mattered, right? But the fact is he’s got Federer, who is an absolute genius when it comes to how he plays tennis. Again, I think that Roger in the last five, six years has really changed his whole regimen. If you watch that thing he put out on his YouTube, whatever it was, around this time last year before the Australian Open, I thought that was very interesting to see the way he was training, doing exercises, doing a lot of agility exercises, then going right and playing points, or doing drills on the court, mixing it up. I thought that was really interesting.”
He added: “I know I learned a lot from watching what he did there as far as trying to help young kids and what they do. I think Roger is a bit ahead of the curve. I think Pierre certainly has had something to do with it. When I was at the Laver Cup as a coach, along with my brother who was captain for the team there, I tell you, it was amazing to see both Federer and Nadal, how professional they are, how meticulous they are, how dedicated they are to making sure they’re ready to go when they go out on the court. I mean, they’ve gone through a whole regimen that entire day leading up to what time they step out on the court, which I found to be incredibly impressive but also a part of why they’re two of the greatest players of all time, and why they’re still at the top in their 30s.”
