What a year it has been for Roger Federer!
The legendary Swiss master made a stunning comeback after seven months out, to secure the Australian Open earlier in the year. Then after opting out of the French Open, Federer returned to capture his record breaking eight Wimbledon title last month.
With the US Open on the horizon, tennis legend John McEnroe has said that Federer continues to amaze him and that “he has never seen anything like this.”
“At the moment we’re just assuming that Roger is going to pull the rabbit out of the hat again,” four-times U.S. Open champion McEnroe said during an ESPN conference call on Wednesday.
“If Roger wins this, it will be one of the great stories in that last 50 years or ever.”
“I saw him today and I said, ‘I’ve got to tell you, hats off. I’ve watched tennis for 40 or 50 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
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When asked about who he thought would win the US Open,
“It wouldn’t be shocking considering that Roger is 36 and he’s had two majors already so perhaps things don’t go as smoothly as they did the other times. And let’s say Nadal wasn’t around and Murray wasn’t healthy, then it’s like, who is going to do it?”
“That’s where it really gets open,” he said.
Another tennis legend, Chris Evert was also full of praise for the Swiss.
“He came back and it was ridiculous,” she said. “It was like he was a different person. It was like his clone has come back,” she said.
“I was sitting on the court in Montreal when he tweaked his lower back and it was really evident that something was wrong with him,” Evert said.
“You never know, he doesn’t say much about his injuries and he made no excuses after the match, but hopefully he’s healthy.”