Feliciano Lopez explains why Roger Federer was a nightmarish opponent (Provided by Tennis World FR)
Feliciano Lopez believes that the quality of Roger Federer’s tennis and his astonishing mental strength make the Swiss a nightmarish opponent. Lopez, former world number 12, had the opportunity to play several times against Federer.
He has also played several times against the rest of the big three group, which includes Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Against Federer, Lopez contested nine games and lost each time.
Facing Nadal, Lopez won four times and suffered ten losses. Lopez hasn’t had much success against Djokovic either, but he has at least picked up a win in their 10 encounters.
Lopez on Federer
“He generally imposed himself by his quality as a tennis player.
Mentally he was very strong, a beast. All three, or even all four if you include Murray, are on a different mental level. Federer imposed his dominance on the court because, tennis-wise, he crushed you.
He was so good that you couldn’t play at the pace you wanted: different ball speed, sick pace and intensity of play. Each of the big four had its particularities, it was very difficult to face them.
There was nothing in particular that hurt you against him. His natural tennis is unforgiving,” Lopez told CLAY. In his nine encounters with Federer, Lopez has only managed to win a set four times and four of their nine encounters have come in Grand Slams.
Interestingly, Lopez and Federer first met at Wimbledon in 2003, when the Swiss won his first Grand Slam title. before winning the title.
Over the next 14 years, the pair met eight times, with Federer winning each time. Their last meeting was at the 2017 US Open, where Federer won in three sets.
Both Lopez and Federer are now retired and will never meet in a professional game again.
2023-07-29 07:10:01
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