Federer happy to support Nadal's tennis academy
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 13, 2017
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Roger Federer enjoys victory at Shanghai Rolex Masters in Shanghai, Oct.11, 2017. [Photo / China.org.cn] |
Tennis megastar Roger Federer told a Shanghai press conference on Wednesday he would be happy to support academies run by fellow tennis stars such as Rafael Nadal in order to help improve the sport.
"For the time being, as I don't have my own academy, I'm very happy supporting Rafa's academy or any other guys' academy, because I know a lot of passion and energy and effort goes into their upkeep," he said.
"I think Juan Carlos Ferrer has one and there are other guys in Barcelona, Sweden…a lot of academies I know of. They are all doing really good work."
Rafael Nadal officially opened his academy in his hometown of Manacor, Mallorca, last year with Federer on hand to congratulate him. Nadal always talked about using his influence to promote his school in China, and his team recently worked with Chinese agency Love Tennis Academy to give lessons in a Shanghai high school.
However, Federer indicated he never intended to open such an academy. "I'm maybe going to be the guy who will be more supportive of other's academies, because I don't want to compete with the Swiss Tennis Federation through which I came.
"However, I do want to help the juniors coming through in the future. I can totally see myself helping there," he added.
Federer praised the development of Chinese tennis. "It seems that, at the moment, the Chinese are definitely producing more players than ever. I think there is a broader spectrum of players playing in the region now, which I think is a beginning. I think having big tournaments like the Shanghai Rolex Masters is hopefully going to strengthen Asian tennis in the future, really. I have been a big believer in this continent's future."
Chinese passion for tennis is evident in this year's Shanghai Rolex Masters as the official website announced yesterday that all tickets for every match had been sold out.
Federer and Nadal had both fought their way into the quarterfinals on Thursday. But Chinese participation in the tournament came to an end after Wu Di and Wu Yibing lost their second-round doubles match to the seventh-seeded pair of Oliver Marach (Austria) and Mate Pavic (Croatia).
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