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Roger Federer: Next Gen stars are not on Rafael Nadals level but all will improve quickly

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Federer doesnt see the new crop on Nadals level (Picture: Getty)

Roger Federer believes he would not be ranked as highly as he is if the Next Gen stars were on the same level as Rafael Nadal, although he is watching their progress with interest.

The 37-year-old is currently world No. 2 in the ATP rankings behind Nadal, 32, while the pair – along with 31-year-old Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic – have shared the past seven Grand Slams between them.

However, there are a promising group of youngsters rising through the ranks, with Stefanos Tsitsipas the latest to cause a stir after making a dash to the final of the Rogers Cup.

Alexander Zverev has peaked as high as world No. 3, Denis Shapovalov has been involved in two Masters 1000 semi-finals, while there are seven players aged 21 or younger inside the top-50.

Tsitsipas impressed in Toronto (Picture: Getty)

But while the Next Gen stars of tomorrow have been catching the eye, Federer somewhat downplayed their achievements – although he believes the strength in depth is an intriguing factor for the next tennis era.

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I mean, look, Rafas era was extremely strong, he said after beating Peter Gojowczyk 6-4 6-4 in his opening match in Cincinatti.

You know, the amount of tournaments – did he win like 20 events by the time he was 19? So just give you a little bit something to think about there, how good he was, you know. Probably the best teenager we have ever seen in the game besides Björn Borg.

We are talking extremely high level. These guys unfortunately or fortunately are not; otherwise maybe I would not be ranked where I would be ranked right now.

ATP top-50 players aged 21 and under

4. Zverev (21)
15. Tsitsipas (20)
21. Coric (21)
32. Shapovalov (19)
37. Rublev (20)
38. Tiafoe (20)
43. De Minaur (19)

But whats nice about this generation thats coming up right now is that there is a bunch of them, and I think thats, when I came up, also we had a lot of good players with [Marat] Safin, [Lleyton] Hewitt, [Andy] Roddick, [David] Ferrer, myself, [Nicolas] Kiefer, [Tommy] Haas, you name it, Guga [Kuerten], there was a bunch of sort of very strong players, and you didnt want to be the last guy, you know. Okay, preferably first but not the tenth guy.

And I think that helps that group of guys to not want to be that guy. So I think on that weekly basis they push each other. Thats what you see now.

Federer keeps an eye on Shapovalovs career (Picture: Getty)

They make maybe faster improvements than if there was only three, because then three is, like, well, Im the third best. Even though youre the last, Im still the third best, which is not bad.

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I think it fuels the hunger to succeed, and thats why its nice to see Tsitsipas or Shapo or other guys doing, you know, great, very big moves in the rankings, great results, slowly winning titles, going deep in 1000s, going deeper in hopefully slams, as well, because we need that on the tour. We cannot just have older guys on tour all the time.

We need that new story time and time again. I love seeing especially teenagers break through, because, I dont know, its like the dream coming true, and I like to see how they react to that and what they say about it, because I saw a lot of guys come through and it was always super exciting, seeing them doing it.