Former American tennis stars Sam Querrey, Jack Sock and John Isner made quite an interesting observation during a podcast conversation as all three agreed that Roger Federer celebrating was “an intimidating” sight.
During their careers, each of the three mentioned Americans above played against the Swiss tennis icon multiple times. Querrey and Sock didn’t have any success at all – each met the former world No. 1 four times – and neither won a set in any of those meetings.
On the other side, Isner did have certain success, beating the former 20-time Grand Slam champion twice in their 10 clashes.
During his career, Federer was very well known for his calm and collected demeanor on the court and he usually wasn’t showing or reacting much. But occasionally, he would let out a loud “Come on!” or “Allez!” And know, we can safely say that it definitely didn’t go unnoticed by his rivals and that it impacted them in certain ways.
Querrey: Nothing more intimidating than his ‘Come on’ or celebrations…
“There’s nothing more intimidating in tennis than a Roger Federer like, ‘Come on!’ or celebrations. It’s the most intimidating thing in tennis,” the 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist said on the Nothing Major podcast.
Roger Federer and Sam Querrey© YouTube screenshot
Sock added: “It’s ‘cause he does it so infrequently that when he does it might as well shake hands.”
Then, Isner recalled his own experience with it and the Swiss coming back from a set down to win a 2018 Laver Cup thriller 6-7 (5) 7-6 (6) 10-7.
“In Chicago, I played this unbelievable match against Roger. I actually had a match point on my serve. I went wide of course on the AD side at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. But he took it on the rise and went blazing. When he won the second set, he fired up. I’m looking at him after he won the second set I’m like, ‘I’m cooked!’” the former 16-time ATP champion said.
Nowadays, Federer is living a relaxed retired life but so do the three Americans, whose retirement also came in the last two years.