Roger Federer won 103 ATP titles during his glittering tennis career, with 20 of those coming in the way of Grand Slams.
Jannik Sinner recently picked Federer as the greatest tennis player ever, and he won’t be alone with that sentiment.
Federer recently played at the Shanghai Masters, taking part in an exhibition against some famous people from Chinese show business.
However, it’s his playing career that people still look back on with fond memories, with most tennis lovers unanimous that a tennis court has never been graced by anyone as elegant as Federer.
John Isner conceded Federer made him nervous on the court, and his aura when he was dominating the sport across his career was something else.
Although Federer won a host of trophies during his career, there was some intrigue around his non-participation in the Paris Masters between the years of 2003 and 2006.
Why Roger Federer didn’t play the Paris Masters for three years
There is some intrigue around this situation, and there are a couple of different theories.
Federer wasn’t completely averse to taking a break between the Asian swing and the ATP Finals, with the exception of his home tournament in Basel, which he often participated in.
There was seemingly another issue with Federer playing in Paris, however, with the tournament formerly played on carpet – something which the Swiss superstar wasn’t too keen on.
It was claimed that Federer and Rafael Nadal didn’t like playing on the surface, with it often favouring the big servers and causing more chance of injury.
When Jean-Francois Caujolle took over as the tournament director for the Paris Masters, his dream was to see Federer win the competition on his watch.
However, he had all on to convince Federer of the carpet surface and opened up on the situation in an interview with L’Equipe back in 2018.
He said: “It was 2007 and since 2003, Federer hadn’t played the tournament. Then, we put in contact with his team and asked why he wasn’t coming.
“It turned out that he didn’t like the carpet surface we had then at all and advised us to contact an Austrian company which designed a type of resin similar to that of Vienna. We did this and fulfilled his wishes. We got in contact with the company and changed the surface.”
However, that still didn’t appease Federer. The court became too high on the bounce and the speed was too low.
Caujolle continues: “When he came to Paris, he noticed there wasn’t much difference among surfaces in the circuit and told that it felt like the ones in Indian Wells and Miami, where he had lost twice to Guillermo Canas.
“I started looking for materials to give a lower bounce and turn the game faster. In 2010 we managed to build the fastest court in the world and one that would clearly suit Federer’s game a lot better than Nadal’s.
“The curious thing was that players like Ljubicic and Isner lost in the first round. The court didn’t seem to favour the big servers but the best volleyers. Finally, in 2011 Federer was able to win the tournament. Since then, the court has been slowed down a bit but it’s probably still the fastest on the circuit.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wasn’t happy with ATP decision in 2009
After Federer’s gripes with carpet, the ATP chose to ban the surface material in 2009.
Kris Dent, the ATP’s communications director at the time, said the reason was to standardise surfaces and reduce the risk of injuries.
However, it wasn’t popular with all the players, none more so that Tsonga who took a swipe at Federer and Nadal.
He said: “It’s a pity that these surfaces disappear. We are going to play tennis where the most important thing will be to have four lungs and not the variety of strokes.
“It’s said that this is given at the request of Federer and Nadal. It is incredible. So, yes one day Nadal (might) ask that all tournaments be in brick dust, then what will we do?”
Roger Federer’s record on carpet
It’s quite interesting that Federer didn’t really like playing on carpet and perhaps there was more to his decision to skip Paris for three years.
Intriguingly, Federer won his maiden career title on a carpet, winning the 2001 Milan indoor tournament and his record on carpet was pretty decent.
Federer won 50 matches played on carpet, with 20 losses giving him a win percentage of roughly 71%.
Clearly the injury situation will make players relieved that carpet is no longer a thing on the ATP Tour and it’s a fascinating tale of how Federer almost indirectly got things changed on the circuit.
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