‘Seeing how Federer was still motivated was special’, says Andy Murray
Andy Murray said he “took a lot from” seeing how motivated Roger Federer still was during a match at the 2021 French Open.
Murray described the 39-year-old Swiss’ third round Roland Garros win over Dominik Koepfer as “a perfect example of someone who loves what he does”.
World No. 8 Federer beat Koepfer 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in Paris, before withdrawing from his fourth round match against Matteo Berrettini.
“You wonder what separates the top athletes and the really great athletes that have been doing it for a long time,” Murray told BBC Sport.
“To me, that was just a perfect example of someone who loves what he does, he loves the game, playing in front of no crowd.
“Just seeing how he was still motivated for me was special. Watching that match I was like: ‘this is brilliant’, and I took a lot from it.”
World No. 124 Murray returns to action as a wildcard at this week’s ATP 500 event at Queen’s in London.
Federer is playing at the Halle ATP 500 – where he defeated Ilya Ivashka in the first round today.