Roger Federer – “Rafa is The Measuring Stick And Not Dominic”

After his rollercoaster victory over Gael Monfils, the 37-year-old Swiss, Roger Federer attained a milestone in his career by winning 1200 ATP matches. The World Number three tennis survived his second match on clay as the Frenchman gained his momentum in the battle after getting bageled in the opening set.

Before pulling off his pre-quarterfinal triumph, Roger Federer dropped five games in a row and survived to two match points. He saved one of them by switching to a supernatural mode as he served and volleyed it in his style.

Up next, Roger Federer will be meeting the new era contender, Dominic Thiem, who denied him his Indian Wells 2019 title, two months ago in California.“The match regardless gives me a lot of information,” the Swiss mentioned about his next match against Thiem.

“I think this Monfils match as well. These are guys you have to close out. Thiem the same thing. He plays with a lot of topspin, a lot of kick. He is not just going to go through a match on clay where he is not going to hit a ball into the court. That might happen sometimes on a really fast court and he might struggle a bit more if you are able to press and put him under pressure all the time.

Upon his return on terre-battue, it was just the second match for him and he certainly felt it was too early to play a player like Monfils, and also mentioned about the Madrid and Paris’ surfaces being different from each other.  

“On clay, you would think that is not going to happen so I have to come up with the goods there so he’s definitely a great test, like Monfils was early in the clay court season for me, still knowing that Madrid plays very different to the French Open,” Roger Federer continued.

The Swiss mentioned the dominance of the World Number five tennis player, Dominic Thiem. He refused Rafael Nadal to claim his 12th Barcelona crown a few days ago, and later defended the title and he also obstructed him during the American swing.

Despite, the Austrian having the ability to stop the ‘King of Clay’, Rafael Nadal and practice his ascendency on the sludge arenas, Roger Federer solely believes that Nadal is the only upper limit when it comes to clay court tennis and not anyone else.

“But Thiem has been playing great,” Roger Federer added. “Recently, winning Barcelona and also Indian Wells. I also saw what he could do on the slower, harder courts, not that I needed him to prove his point. But I think beating Rafa (Nadal) in Barcelona is a feat in itself. I still believe that Rafa is the measuring stick and not Dominic. But we will see how it all plays out.”