Tennis ace dubbed as next Roger Federer ‘will never become’ same player as Swiss maestro, believes his coach

Henry Bernet's coach feels the youngster needs to focus on his game rather than get carried away by comparisons with Roger Federer.

Tennis ace dubbed as next Roger Federer ‘will never become’ same player as Swiss maestro, believes his coach

Roger Federer (via ATP/X)

Henry Bernet, the 18-year-old from Switzerland, has drawn a lot of comparisons to Roger Federer. His coach, Severin Luthi, however, gave the youngster a reality check, that he could never be like Federer.

The teenager trains at Federer’s boyhood club in Switzerland. He works with Federer’s former coach Luthi and is also sponsored by On, the Swiss sportswear and shoe brand backed by Federer, becoming the first active player to sign the deal with the brand.

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He recently won the boys’ singles title at the Australian Open with a straight-set win over Benjamin Willwerth and some fans noticed that he even sounded like Federer. But Luthi, who was in the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s team for about 15 years, advised Bernet to not get carried away with such comparisons.

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I know people love these comparisons and it’s certainly not far-fetched. There are some parallels, but Henry will never be the same player as Roger. He is only 18 and still has to find his identity, as a player and as a person. He himself doesn’t yet know what kind of player he can and wants to become.

Severin Luthi told Watson

Tim Henman admits Roger Federer toughest player he has faced

Tim Henman was 6-7 against Roger Federer, 0-2 versus Rafael Nadal, and faced Novak Djokovic once but lost that match. Against Andy Murray, he was 1-3. Henman has played the four members of the Big 4 and revealed who was toughest to beat in a recent interview.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal (Images via ATP/X)

I played Federer the most and I felt that he had the most complete game, he could play on any surface, had very few weaknesses and there wasn’t a specific area that you could necessarily attack.

Tim Henman told TalkSPORT

Although he found it tough to beat Federer, the former World No.4 considers Djokovic the GOAT (Greatest of All Time). He said tennis has become a game of stats and Djokovic is ahead of everyone with most ATP titles, most weeks as No.1, and with 24 Majors in his trophy cabinet.

Federer, Nadal, and Murray have retired and Djokovic too is in the twilight of his career. After his retirement, Murray joined Djokovic’s team as his coach.

The Serb, following his Australian Open exit due to a hamstring injury, expressed his uncertainty at arriving in Melbourne for next year’s Major. The 37-year-old recently suffered a first-round exit at the Qatar Open, losing to Matteo Berrettini in the first round.