Medvedev: “I will miss Federer”

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It has been almost 200 days since Roger Federer (41) shocked the tennis world with his resignation. Daniil Medvedev (27) knew the farewell was imminent, but the news still touched him.

“Everyone hoped that he would play Wimbledon again,” the Russian said in an interview with “tennismagazine.de”. That won’t happen, much to the regret of the winner of the 2021 US Open: “I will definitely miss Roger.”

The lanky man of 1.98 meters reveals that he cannot imagine a tennis world without Federer. The maestro shaped him as a child and raves at the highest pitches: “When I started watching tennis on TV, Roger was already there. He is, as everyone describes him: respectful and distinguished, a great guy. A legend on and off the field.”

Federer’s career highlight

There were three direct duels between the twenty-time Grand Slam winner and the current number 5 in the world. The Russian lost three times, the last time exactly four years ago at the Masters in Miami.

And yet Medvedev fondly remembers them, especially their first meeting in Shanghai in 2018. “A week earlier I had won my first 500 tournament in Tokyo. I knew that if I beat China’s Ze Zhang in the first round, I would play Roger.”

So he did everything to ensure that the duel with the superstar went flawlessly. He even had to fend off match points to make his dream come true. “It was a crazy game,” says Medvedev.

He then even brought Federer to the brink of defeat: 6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 4 the Basel player triumphed. Medvedev recalled one meeting in particular: “I remember how he made some kind of retro hit and panicked the stadium.” Last but not least, that match was “the most beautiful moment of my career” at the time. (che)

Source : Blick