“Federer made me feel like a JUNIOR!” – Shapovalov | Kokkinakis's “I’ve never seen him sweat!” 🎥UTS

A UTS round-table conversation with Denis Shapovalov, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Dominic Thiem ahead of the 2024 UTS Grand Final.

Shapovalov was describing his only career meeting with Roger Federer, the 2019 Miami Open semi-final.

He said: “Federer can literally make you feel like a junior.”

He explained that he had arrived in the semi-final having beaten players including Andrey Rublev and Frances Tiafoe, yet against Federer he “felt like a junior on the court. It was insane.” Federer won that match 6–2, 6–4.

Shapovalov also described how Federer would constantly change things up—slicing one point, attacking the next—which contributed to the feeling that Federer was almost casually playing with his opponent.

Kokkinakis then jumped in with the brilliant bit about how effortless Federer looked. He said: “I’ve never seen him sweat dude.”

He joked that Federer's hair always stayed in place and contrasted him with Nadal grunting and Djokovic sliding around the court.

His basic point was that with those two you could see the physical effort, whereas Federer could make an opponent look ridiculous while appearing as though he was barely trying.

Kokkinakis also said: “No one can make you look more ridiculous than him.”

And summed up Federer’s apparent effortlessness by saying he looked like he was “taking the piss.”

Interestingly, Kokkinakis actually beat Federer in their 2018 Miami meeting, 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(4).

Credit: UTS Tour