Roger Federer lost to a great Sascha Zverev in the semi of the ATP Finals.
Unfortunately, the great performance of the German was tainted by an unfortunate episode when a ballboy dropped a ball in the middle of a key rally that Federer was controlling. The point had to be replied and the Maestro lost that point after he was aced.
Sascha was booed by the crowd after the match because he stopped the point, but a classy Federer defended both the ballboy and his opponent in the following press conference.
Why Federer is not upset with the ballboy or Zverev
The Maestro commented
“Booing, I never like it. We see it in other sports all the time, but in tennis it’s rare. So when it happens, it gets very personal and we take it very direct. I think it’s unfortunate that this happened. Sascha doesn’t deserve it.
He apologized to me at the net. I was like, ‘buddy, shut up! You don’t need to apologize to me here. Congratulations on a great match and a great tournament so far.’
He didn’t do anything about it. He just called it how it was. He felt it affected play. There is a rule that if something like this happens, obviously you replay points.”
… and the ballboy
Roger was nice again when talking about the ballboy to say
“He said, ‘Yes, I did drop the ball.’ From that standpoint, it’s okay, no problem, that happens. It’s all good. I hope he doesn’t have a sleepless night. It’s not a big deal at the end of the day. This is life, this is sport. Definitely not mad at him. It’s all good.”
A real champion.
