Feliciano Lopez explains why Roger Federer was a nightmare opponent (Provided by Tennis World EN)
Feliciano López suggests Roger Federer’s tennis quality and amazing mental toughness have made the Swiss a nightmare opponent. López, former world No. 12, has had several opportunities to face Federer.
Also, López played several times against the rest of the ‘Big Three’ group, which also includes Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.López had nine meetings against Federer, each of which always ended in defeat.
In the duels against Nadal, López was able to record four wins and ten defeats. López didn’t have much success against Djokovic either, but still managed to get one win in their ten matches.
López on playing against Federer:
“He usually asserted himself through his quality as a tennis player.
Mentally he was very strong, a beast. The three – even the four, because I count Murray among them – are on a different level mentally. Federer asserted his dominance on the court because he overwhelmed you with his tennis game.
He was so good that you couldn’t play at the pace you wanted: a different ball speed, a bestial rhythm and intensity in the game. Each with their own peculiarities, it was very difficult to face them.
There was nothing that made you stand against him. His tennis was enough for him”, López told CLAY. In their nine encounters, López was only able to win a set four times, and four of their nine encounters were played at Grand Slam level.
Interestingly, López and Federer first met at Wimbledon 2003 when the Swiss famously won his first Grand Slam title. In the round of 16 at Wimbledon 2003, Federer defeated López in three sets to go on to win the title.
They met eight more times over the next 14 years, with Federer emerging victorious each time. Their last meeting came at the 2017 US Open when Federer claimed a three-set victory. López and Federer are both retired now and will never meet again in a professional game.
2023-07-28 18:52:28
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