41-Year-Old Former Tennis Ace Breaks Down the Inner ‘Beast’ Within Roger Federer That Allowed the Swiss Maestro to Overwhelm His Opponents

Starting with Maria Sharapova, tennis players who made the childhood of 90s fans and inspired them, have been retiring from the year 2020. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Juan Martín del Potro are a few of the major players who bid adieu to the game in the last two years. Novak Djokovic is still ruling the game, Andy Murray is continuing his decent run, and Rafael Nadal is keeping the world on pins and needles about his return to the game. Feliciano Lopez also joined the list of veterans bidding adieu to the sport. He announced his retirement recently while waxing lyrical about his rival Federer.

In a recent interview, the 41-year-old reflected upon some precious moments with the ‘Big 3’ and treasured his long career, which started in 1997. He revealed the dominant player of his era by heaping praises and highlighting him among the ‘Big 3.’

Feliciano Lopez reveals the squeaky-clean tennis skills of Roger Federer

Lopez gave an interview to ‘ClayTenis,’ a French Tennis website, in which he picked Federer as the most dominant player. The Spanish professional said that he always considered the ‘Big 4,’ as the greatest, including Murray, and not just the ‘Big 3.’ The 7 singles career titles winner was asked if Federer played any mind games on him, to which he uttered a reply as modest and humble as the Swiss star.

Talking about the Swiss Maestro and the other three among the ‘Big 4’, Lopez said, “He usually imposed himself by his quality as a tennis player. Mentally he was very strong, a beast. The three, even the four because I include Murray, are mentally at a different level. Federer imposed his dominance on the court because tennis wise he overwhelmed you. “

The former ATP number 12 spoke highly of Federer by saying, “He was so good that you could not play at the pace you wanted: a different ball speed, a beastly rhythm and intensity of play. Each with their own particularities, it was very difficult to face them. There was nothing apart that made you suffer against him. His tennis was enough for him.”

The newly retired player enjoyed the opportunity of playing all the ‘Big 4’ players at his peak. But there is one player whom he could not beat even once in his year, despite beating Rafa and Djoker at their peak.

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Two legends remain unbeaten by Lopez in his 26 years of career

The Spanish star faced the ‘God of Tennis’ 13 times in his career in both the ATP tour and majors, but couldn’t manage to win a match against him. Federer even beat Lopez in straight sets in 6 of their matches. In the remaining 7 matches, Lopez could only win a single set against the Swiss legend.

Murray, too, stood undefeated against the Spanish player who won all 11 encounters between them. 4 wins occurred in the majors, and most of the victories came in straight sets for the Brit. The duo even paired up for doubles in 5 five tournaments from 2017 to 2019.

Lopez played 14 matches against his compatriot, Nadal, and won 4 of them. Out of them, none occurred in a Grand Slam event. They faced each other twice in the majors, and Rafa claimed both matches in straight sets. Among the 14 matches, the 22 Grand Slam singles titles winner won 10 matches in straight sets, while Lopez enjoyed only one straight sets victory.

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Though Lopez had a victory over Djokovic, the match did not technically end as the Serb chose to retire from the match after playing a set, in which the Serb was defeated. With 10 matches played against each other, the Serb won 9 of them. Lopez ended his career in the recent Mallorca Open when he lost to Yannick Hanfmann in the quarter-finals.