A star-struck Kristina Mladenovic has paid tribute to 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer during a interview with Sport 360.
The world No.29 recently participated in the Dubai leg of the IPTL alongside Federer for the OBI UAE Royals. The performance of the 34-year-old during the exhibition event was disappointing as he lost all four of his matches. Nevertheless, despite the quartet of losses, Mladenovic spoke about how excited she was to play in the same team as the Swiss player.
“Oh my God. Personally I enjoyed it, it’s been like the most exciting days in my tennis career, I have to say”. She told Sport 360.
“He probably doesn’t know it but I’m probably one of Roger’s biggest fans and it was like such a dreamy situation for me to be by his side.
“He was kind of coaching me, giving me advice, and sometimes even during his singles asking us for advice and I was like ‘wow, this is never going to happen often in my life, that Roger is asking me what do’, that kind of situation was a lot of fun”.
Earlier this year Mladenovic was caught performing a Federer-like shot during the US Open.
Mladenovic has performed impressively during the exhibition event. Currently on the IPTL leader board she is ranked sixth with the most aces (20) and is third with the most winners (73).
On the WTA Tour this year Mladenovic has claimed four titles in the doubles, which elevated her to a career high of 5th in the world in May. In the singles she reached her first WTA final at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France. Then towards the end of the year the 22-year-old produced her best Grand Slam performance by reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open.
