Roger Federer, 36 years old, is one of the oldest pros on the ATP tour. Due to his successes and playing style, he is regarded as a role model for the next generation of tennis stars – and is highly interested in youth work.
Roger Federer recently announced that he will take the young Frenchman Felix-Auger Aliassime to the training camp in Dubai for a week. In December, the two players from different generations will train with each other and Aliassime in particular will have a great opportunity to work with the best player of all time on his condition.
At 36 years of age, Federer is 19 years older than his part-time training partner and will give the youngster some important advice. Eugenie Lapierre, Tournament Director of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, admitted in an interview with an American website:”Roger Federer is a tennis obsessive. His agent Tony Gidsik told me that Federer wished the Swiss U-14 team good luck before a tournament – before one of his matches! He’s tracking everything.”
Louis Borfiga also agreed with this opinion. The vice-president of Canada’s High Performance Team commented on the 19-time Grand Slam winner:”Federer loves tennis, he is a real fan. He keeps track of everything about the youngsters and keeps himself informed.”
Especially in the case of Aliassime, Borfiga sees the advantage of working with the old master:”I think he wants to help the next generation. I think he likes Felix and his personality. He wants to give something back that the tennis gave him. He wants to help Felix and perhaps save him from one or two mistakes,”explained Borfiga.
Indeed,”FedEx” pursues the youth work in his country and trains time and again with hopeful youngsters. He is aware of his role as a role model and likes to take care of it.