20-time grand slam champion Roger Federer has dismissed the idea that his huge popularity in the sport affects his rivals when he plays them on the tour.
Federer kicked-off his ATP Finals campaign on Sunday with a straight-sets loss to Dominic Thiem, who he has now lost to three times this year. Nevertheless, the majority of the 18,500 capacity crowd in London was still cheering on the Swiss Maestro. Who has won the tournament a record six times with the last occurring back in 2011.
Hailed by Thiem as a ‘real legend’ of the sport, Federer’s popularity among fans can be argued as a sort of advantage for him. Albeit a mental one. However, the 38-year-old has played down the impact his army has on the outcome of his matches.
“I don’t think it’s that incredibly difficult for the opponents. I don’t think that the fans are unfair or anything.” Federer argues.
“I think my opponents are pretty happy when they play against me, as well, because usually it’s on a big court and they make a good atmosphere, and that’s what we play for.”
The world No.3 boasts an impressive social media profile. At present, he has 17.7 million Twitter followers and 14.8 million likes. To put that into perspective, his twitter contingent is seven times more than that of the official ATP Tour account.
“Tonight I wish I could have given them (the crowd) a bit more something to celebrate, but I felt like the fans were waiting and they were ready to go, but never quite took off and never could quite take the lead,” Federer concluded.
One player who may dispute Federer’s view on his fans is rival Novak Djokovic. Particularly concerning their clash in the Wimbledon final when chants of ‘Federer’ continuously erupted around center court. He said after that he mentally tried to channel the roars to into his own name.
Federer will have a rematch with Djokovic later in the tournament in what will be a critical match. He has never failed to progress beyond the round-robin stage of the tournament since 2008.
“Sometimes the crowd is on your side, the majority of the crowd is on your side, and sometimes it’s against you,” Djokovic commented on Sunday. “It’s something throughout my career I had to learn how to handle, how to accept, and how to deal with that.”
Before his Djokovic mission, Federer will play Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday.
