"Kind of a player where you would play a good shot and a better shot would come back" - Nicolas Lapentti on Roger Federer
Roger Federer's game was among the most difficult to break as he barely had any weaknesses in his tennis arsenal, former World No. 6 Nicolas Lapentti opined.
Lapentti, who played with and against the Swiss great many years ago, explained that his opponents always expected their great shots to be met with even better shots from Federer.
The 46-year-old faced the recently-retired Swiss player four times on the ATP tour and did not win even a single set against him. The Ecuadorian, who was unable to win more than four games in any of those sets, explained why he often found himself helpless against the 20-time Major champion, who had the ability to always come up with an answer on the court.
"He was that kind of a player where you would play a good shot and a better shot would come back. It was very difficult to find a weak spot," Nicolas Lapentti said on a recent episode of The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast.
Lapentti shed light on Federer's demeanor off the court as well and was all praise for him. The 1999 Australian Open semifinalist said that the Swiss great was highly respectful and light-hearted in the locker room, and often loved talking about soccer as he is a huge fan of the sport. The Ecuadorian believes Federer was "awesome in all aspects" and his contribution to tennis will remain unmatched
"Roger was awesome in all aspects," Lapentti further said. "He was great on the court, he was great off the court, he was unbelievable in the locker room, he used to hang out and be funny and do jokes. He loved soccer so we talked about soccer. He was all class. Of course, what he did to the tennis world was so amazing. I think no one will ever match what he did," he expressed.
"Crazy, but that's what Roger did to the tennis world" - Nicolas Lapentti on Roger Federer's emotional farewell at Laver Cup
Nicolas Lapentti also reflected on Roger Federer's retirement night at the Laver Cup, where he signed off by playing a doubles match with Rafael Nadal as his partner.
That the fact that there was not a single dry eye inside the stadium showed exactly what the Swiss great meant to the tennis world, he stated.
"That was huge," said Lapentti. "I have a couple of friends who were in the stadium and they were texting me and saying, 'I have never seen in my whole life the whole stadium crying.' It was crazy but that's what Roger did to the tennis world," he expressed.
Lapentti also reminisced about playing doubles with the former World No. 1 at the Halle Open, which was statistically the Swiss great's joint-most successful tournament with 10 singles titles to his name. The duo played together at the 2000 Halle Open when Lapentti was inside the top 10 of the singles rankings and Federer was still an upcoming talent.
He even joked about being the better player of the two, at least back then.
"We played doubles in Halle in 2000, when I was still better than him," Lapentti said with a laugh, adding, "He was still coming up. In 2000, I was up there, and he was probably no. 30 in the world and he was coming up, he was this young kid from Switzerland playing great tennis."