Not many gamers can say they’ve turned down the chance to play with Roger Federer.
Federer is without doubt one of the hottest gamers within the historical past of tennis, and continues to be even three years after his retirement.
This was evident on the newest version of the Laver Cup in San Francisco, with Federer within the crowd for most of the matches.
Federer needed to flip gamers together with Carlos Alcaraz down for a follow, however a former Roland Garros semifinalist has revealed he as soon as rejected the now 20-time main champion.
Fernando Meligeni reveals he as soon as refused to follow with Roger Federer
That participant is 1999 Roland Garros semifinalist Fernando Meligeni, who has claimed he would refuse to teach Alcaraz.
In a brand new interview with Clay journal, Meligeni was requested in regards to the time that he refused to follow with Federer after being requested to by his late coach Peter Lundgren.
This was within the early 2000s, when Federer would have nonetheless been in his late teenagers or early twenties and had but to indicate himself on the worldwide stage.
“We were in Hamburg and Peter Lundgren, Federer’s coach, asked us to play with him,” mentioned Meligeni. “And we didn’t want to. ‘Federer isn’t good, Federer doesn’t play that much.’ And we said no.”
Federer has been open about his unhealthy mood as a junior participant, and that is one thing that Meligeni has urged contributed to his choice to show the Swiss away.
Meligeni then spoke about Rafael Nadal, who he claims was at all times destined for greatness.
“First, because he broke everything, he was too nervous,” Corretja mentioned about Federer. “His backhand was pretty bad, weak. And we played on clay, which he didn’t play so well on either. Then he started playing better on hard courts and clay came later. But that’s typical.
“When Nadal appeared, I met him when he was 15 in Aix-en-Provence. He reached the final, I lost in the quarterfinals or semifinals, and we had a chat in the changing room. You could tell that the kid played really well and that he was going to be great.
“Alex Corretja told us, ‘This kid is going to be number one in the world.’ Sure, sure. And when I saw him play, I knew: this kid plays like crazy.”
What occurred when Fernando Meligeni performed Roger Federer?
Meligeni and Federer by no means performed one another on the singles court docket, however they did have one assembly on the doubles court docket a couple of years after the Brazilian refused their follow.
This was on the 2003 Australian Open, in a uncommon Grand Slam doubles look for Federer, the place he partnered his compatriot Yves Allegro.
Federer and Allegro beat Meligeni and his French companion Antony Dupuis, 6-3 6-4, and this gave the impression to be a turning level.
Meligeni admitted that Federer performed very well throughout that match, “I only played with him once, in doubles against him. I was playing with Dupuis, a Frenchman. And he was playing with Allegro. It was in the second round of the Australian Open, and you could already tell he was playing really well.”
Federer gained his first Wimbledon title in 2003, the identical 12 months that Meligeni retired from skilled tennis.
