Roger Federer is one of the most iconic sportsmen of all time, and the elegance he showed on a tennis court may never be rivalled.
Federer returned to action at the Shanghai Masters to play an exhibition, and his legacy of 20 Grand Slam titles lives on.
It’s quite remarkable what he achieved in the game, winning 103 career titles and a record-breaking eight at Wimbledon.
Although some tennis fans will always make a case for Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal as the greatest ever, Federer is certainly in the mix.
One great thing about Federer is that he always had time for players lower down the rankings, and one player has been discussing his time spent practising with the legendary figure.
Elliot Spizzirri makes Roger Federer claim
Spizzirri is the world number 87 at the moment, and he’s striving to make his way up the rankings and qualify for more tournaments.
As a teenager, he was preparing to play at the US Open for what he thinks was the junior tournament when the call came to practice with Federer.
It was a day that he will never forget and has spoken about the experience of playing Federer during a practice session.
He said on the Inside In podcast: “To this day, I’ve never not been able to eat something before because I was so nervous. I only got a few days of notice.
“He was preparing for the US Open, I was getting ready for the junior Open, maybe not even the junior Open, I’m not quite sure, and they asked the USTA and the organisers of the US Open for guys who were ready, and I got asked.
“That morning, I got a huge bacon, egg and cheese from the deli, and it just wouldn’t go down! It wasn’t the greatest practice, I missed, of course I missed, for sure!
“I hope I gave him a good practice. We had a lot of fun; he couldn’t have been nicer and more generous to us. It was a blast, a really cool experience on Arthur Ashe, and it’s one I will cherish for the rest of my life. When I was talking to him, I didn’t even think he was real, but he’s just so normal, that’s the weird thing.”
Roger Federer had a brilliant US Open record
Federer had quite the streak at the US Open during his career, winning five consecutive finals and losing when on course for a sixth against Juan Martin del Potro in 2009.
The 44-year-old has been discussing some of the topical points in tennis just lately, and it would appear that he’s still a big tennis fan.
- 2004 US Open – Champion
- 2005 US Open – Champion
- 2006 US Open – Champion
- 2007 US Open – Champion
- 2008 US Open – Champion
- 2009 US Open – Lost to Juan Martin del Potro in F
It would be great if he could remain involved in some way, and a senior tour with Nadal has been mooted previously.
Federer is still the most elegant man to ever grace a tennis court, and some of his matches make up superb highlight reels to this day.
It’s quite nice to think of him helping the younger players out by giving them the experience of practising with him on the grandest stage, and that merely highlights the sound reputation he had among his peers.
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