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London - Roger Federer was over the moon after claiming his record eighth Wimbledon title on Sunday and partied well into the night.
But once the hangover had receded, the greatest player of his generation was left to wonder why he is still able to win grand slam titles at the grand old age of 35.
With Federer claiming both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year and fellow veteran Rafael Nadal taking the Roland Garros crown, the Swiss ace questioned why the next generation of tennis pros has yet to step up.
He admitted that the failure of tennis’s next generation - the likes of Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Bernard Tomic and others in their mid-20s - to come through in grand slams was good for him.
“Every generation definitely is different,” Federer said. “Since my generation and Rafa’s generation, the next one hasn’t been strong enough to push all of us out really, so that has been helpful for us to stick around.”
Federer also took a shot at the playing style of many of today’s pros, describing their reluctance to approach the net as “frightening”.
“I have played almost every player here that wouldn’t serve and volley. It’s frightening to see this at this level. I look at the stats and go into whichever round it is and see that the guy I’m going to face is playing two per cent of serve and volley throughout the championships. I’m going, ‘OK, I know he’s not going to serve and volley’, which is great,” Federer said.
“Then we are talking about grass, it was playing fast this week (compared with the first week). I wish that we would see more players taking chances up at the net because good things do happen there. You want to be there and have to spend some time up there to feel confident and good there.”
