“Comeback for Federer tougher than Nadal,” says ‘Big Federer fan’ Alexander Zverev
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Alexander Zverev, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
Alexander Zverev has come on leaps and bounds this year, finally fulfilling his long and undoubtable potential. The 24-year-old has so far looked to compete with Daniil Medvedev to take the mantle as the world of tennis slowly looks to be moving to an era post the traditional Big 3 of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The German won 6 ATP titles this year, including the year-end ATP Finals. He also won the gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Apart from that, he also reached the semi-finals of the US Open this year, where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic.
Alexander Zverev’s revelation about Nadal and Federer’s comebacks
Both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have had injury-ravaged seasons. In the recent Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast on Eurosport Germany with legend Boris Becker, the Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev revealed that he feels Federer, 41, will have a harder time making a comeback Nadal, 35 due to the age difference between them.
Hailing himself a big Roger Federer fan, the ATP Finals champion pointed out that despite the Swiss previous proving people wrong many times in the past with his age-defying feats, the Swiss legend would find it more difficult to come back from his knee operation this time due to the game now being much faster than before.
“With Rafa, it will be a bit easier than with Roger since Rafa hasn’t been away that long and he is five years younger than Roger. Roger has already achieved many things where we said: That’s not possible. That’s why I wouldn’t write him off. It won’t be easy, but tennis changes and becomes faster. At some point, this is no longer easy. There is no bigger Roger fan than me, but I don’t know how easy it is to make another comeback at almost 41 years after knee surgery,” said the German.
Roger Federer underwent a couple of knee surgeries last year, returning to action in March. The 40-year-old re-injured his knee during the grasscourt season, which resulted in further surgery and another layoff for the Swiss.
Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, was sidelined for four months this year due to a foot injury. The 35-year-old returned to action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, where he lost both his matches. Following that, he tested positive for COVID-19, hampering his chances to participate in the Australian Open.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)