27 January

Tennis was my main sport as a kid. I’ve been interested in Federer regularly being called the greatest player of all time. The statistics don’t bear that out, Margaret Court is like the Bradman of tennis, nobody else is even close statistically. And Nadal and Djokovic both have significantly better records against Federer than he does against them. Hmm, how to say this. I think tennis is actually a prissy sport. Rich people generally play tennis (they can afford a court). Federer is adored because he’s nice, respectable, well mannered. Tennis crowds are sipping wine and eating canapés crowds, it’s a class thing. They want to see respectable players. They hated McEnroe. To me Federer as a player is actually like McEnroe, which is why I like him. An artist with the ball, unpredictable and unexpected. Djokovic and Nadal and even Serena Williams are like muscular ball machines, relentlessly belting the ball back over the net. Most modern players are trained like that. They bore me.