Federer looks to amend past decision, plans to apologize to Alcaraz

Switzerland’s legendary tennis star Roger Federer has revealed that he is looking to ‘apologise’ to Spain’s young sensation Carlos Alcaraz after refusing to train with him during his playing days. The 21-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, along with Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

Former world number one Federer, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 20 Grand Slam titles, was recently quoted in a report by Tennis 365 as he is set to be in Berlin to witness the Laver Cup 2024 edition where Team Europe and Team will participate in a three-day event.

Federer talked about an interesting incident where he trained with Alcaraz when he was a junior player. The former world number one also stated that he is looking to apologise to the young Spaniard as he refused to train with him the next day when he was given the opportunity to. Federer revealed that he decided to train with his coach instead who is from ‘his generation’.

“I barely know Carlos Alcaraz so I’m really excited to see him play for the very first time,” he said. “I only practised once with him at Wimbledon when he was still a junior, and then the next day, my coach said, ‘Do you want to warm up with him again?’ and I said, ‘No, it’s okay, I’d rather warm up with his coach, who was my generation, Juan Carlos Ferrero.’ I can apologise to Carlos this week!”

Federer also expressed optimism about the chances of Team Europe in the upcoming competition and believes that, at least in the singles category, they will have an edge over Team World. “In the singles matches, we are heavy favourites,” he said. “I know that Team World has great players right now that are red hot and playing super well, I still think most of the matches in singles are going to go Team Europe’s way and then the doubles, I feel like most are going to go Team World’s way.”