Benneteau on Federer: “He does an incredible job”

The 20-time Grand Slam, Roger Federer champion is the favourite for most the tennis fans. With his huge popularity, Federer is favoured in every event he plays. Julian Benneteau, a tennis professional who retired this year addressed the French media. Benneteau praised about Federer’s off the court sponsors and endorsements. He feels Federer is not only flawless on the court, even after stepping out of from his place of work he does his job with perfection. Benneteau played the 37-year-old Swiss eight times and twice received a victory against him. “If he makes all that money off the court, it’s because outside the court he does an incredible job,” Benneteau said. “In Basel, he spends an hour an a half on the court for his match. But after that, he spends 2-3 hours with the partners, with other people. In tennis, the Sampras’ and Agassi’s didn’t do all that.”

Despite his admiration, he smacked Federer for choosing Laver Cup over Davis Cup. Moreover, he charged the International Tennis Federation of being “weak”. “That’s where I find the international tennis bodies incredibly weak. With all that Federer is, okay. But it’s an exhibition, his thing. The Laver Cup has no sporting legitimacy. There are no sporting criteria with the selections”, said Benneteau. “There are no ATP points. It’s just financial. Because he gives Nick Kyrgios $750,000 to come and play matches that don’t count, the guys say, ‘Okay, those are the rates for the Laver Cup.”

Additionally, Benneteau pointed out that the Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley involved in the Laver Cup, which was a conflict of interest. The Scheduling of Federer’s matches was quite flexible. Later, he added, “And the man is paid by Roger Federer’s agent for the Laver Cup. Over the last two Australian Opens, (Federer) played 14 matches, because he was a champion and finalist. And he played 12 or 13 of his 14 matches in the night session. On the same day, Federer played Jan-Lennard Struff – I have nothing against Struff, great guy – Novak Djokovic played Gael Monfils. We’re agreed that on paper, any tournament director would put Djokovic-Monfils on night session at 7:30 pm, right?. But no. They played at 2:30 pm, in 104 degrees. And Federer-Struff played at night.”