Medvedev feels Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have made it ‘tough’ to support the next generation
Daniil Medvedev believes greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the “fairest sportsmen in the history of the sport,” but thinks they have also made the next generation ‘tough’ to support.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as well as current World number one Novak Djokovic, have all won 20 Grand Slam titles a piece as they compete against each other to become the most successful men’s player ever.
However, Federer will definitely miss the upcoming Australian Open and possibly Wimbledon, whilst Nadal is also returning to full fitness following a foot injury.
Djokovic may also be a doubt for the ‘Happy Slam’ as his Covid-19 vaccination status is yet to be revealed and players must be double vaccinated in order to compete.
Towards the end of November, World number two Medvedev claimed that he believes the generations prior to Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are worse than the Big Three.
The US Open champion feels it wouldn’t be shameful if the next crop of players don’t win 20 Grand Slam titles each as the previous generations also failed to achieve such a feat.
In a press conference after beating Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the Davis Cup final, Medvedev told reporters that he believes the next generation of players will struggle to gain the support of fans as people will compare them to Federer and Nadal.
“I think the tough part for the young generation, because we had Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] – I go with my words – they are probably, I want to say, one of the most fairest sportsmen in all the history of the sport, and they were both playing together, and they both won amazing titles.
“Now when somebody in tennis is not like this, people tend to not like them and say, ‘How come you’re not like Roger and Rafa?’ Guess what, everybody is different.
“I think the moment when they retire and there are going to be new fans who didn’t see Roger and Rafa live, that’s what it’s going to come back to where people are going to like other characters than this.”
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