Roger Federer congrats Dominic Thiem on his US OPEN championship
The greatest tennis player of all time and current holder of the most Grand Slam titles called Dominic Thiem to congratulate him on his first Grand Slam victory at the US OPEN tennis tournament in New Year.
BlickCH magazine reported THIEM saying:“Roger congratulated me on my USO win, I promise, I will do everything so that Roger remains No1 (smiling), no other player can be compared to Roger, he‘s one of a kind, a much more aesthetic and elegant player than I am.”
It was so nice to hear of Roger Federer’s outreach to the young Austrian player and his graciousness to the next generation. Thiem also said that both of them talked a few times on the phone before the US Open about the happenings on the tour. He added that he will be happy to have Roger back on the tour and that others would feel the same. Thiem got asked if they would celebrate him as Austrian Federer? THiem answered laughing that it would sound good if someone would finally say it.
Dominic joked that the only thing which they have in common is the one handed backhand. Thiem went on to praise the swiss superstar and say “No player could be compared to Roger. Roger Federer would be a role model for everyone.” The journalist said that Thiem replied with a lot of modesty, and a down to earth attitude similar to Federer.
Thiem said that Roger would also be a role model in this regard. Incredible friendly, nice and extremely funny in private. Thiem said that he would like to be such a person as well, to stay the person you are despite being successful. He would be happy if people would say this about him. Roger would have been exactly this kind of person.
One wonders if part of the conversation that Federer and Thiem had was concerning the ATP players council and the new initiative that Novak Djokovic has put forth in starting an players union of sorts called the Professional Tennis Players Association. Apparently the world Number one is frustrated by what they view as a lack of negotiating power in men’s tennis.
Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil are forming a new subset of Men’s tennis players to represent the interests of male players which they hope will supplant the current structure of the Association of Tennis Professionals. Both players have resigned their leadership roles in the association’s player council along with a few others.
Click here to listen to our take on the US OPEN 2020 championships via our TennisPAL Chronicles podcast.
