Track and Field Legend Names Events Where Roger Federer Would Have Beaten Djokovic and Nadal

Retired French hurdler Stephane Caristan has revealed the track and field event where he would have fancied Roger Federer to end up and excel had he not been a tennis superstar.

Stephane Caristan reckons Roger Federer would have excelled as 100-meter hurdler

In an interview with a French publication, Caristan admitted that just as he reckons NBA legend LeBron James would have achieved similar greatness as a decathlete, he thinks that the twenty-time Grand Slam winner would have won just as many laurels crossing 110-meter hurdles.

The track and field legend said it’s not because he considers Federer to be his favorite athlete that he would fancy putting him in his sport.

“He is a very good technician. It is not because he is my favorite athlete, but I will have to put him on 110 meters hurdles. Or by pole or length,” the Frenchman said.

“He has the profile of the new 110 meter runners who amazed me”: Caristan on Federer

He added that of the ‘Big Three’ – the combined moniker for Federer and peers Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – he considers the Swiss to be the most ideally suited to take on those set of hurdles.

“I think of the ‘Big Three’ , he would have been the most technically skilled. He has the profile of the new 110 meter runners who amazed me, that is to say to necessarily very stretched in legs but technically sharp enough to compensate,” Caristan said.

While his body seems to have slowed down at 39, the Swiss Master has had a long and incredibly successful career, interspersed with a few injury-induced breaks.

When surgery ended Federer’s season early

In arguably his longest absence from tennis, Federer took a break from the game after the Australian Open last year to get a surgery done on a troublesome knee. Roger has since been away from the professional circuit, working on his recovery.

Federer recently announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open this year, the first time he has done so in his career, saying that his recovery from the surgery was still behind schedule.

He dropped a broad hint of not traveling to Melbourne Park this year during a recent awards night in his homeland, saying he wasn’t sure if his knees would recover in time for the year’s first Grand Slam.

Read More: “Important to be positive”: Roger Federer Serves Up Hope for New Season

While he got back to the swing of things and began his pre-season training block in Dubai, under the watchful eyes of his coach and sparring mate Ivan Ljubicic, he realized he won’t regain full fitness even with a delayed start to the Australian Open.