"It was a super relaxed conversation as if we knew each other from before" - Rising Spanish star Rebeka Masarova recalls meeting idol Roger Federer

Rebeka Masarova, born in Roger Federer’s hometown of Basel, started her 2023 season with a splash, making it to her maiden WTA final against at the ASB Classic in Auckland and entering the WTA top-100 for the first time in her career.

The 23-year-old player who is now representing Spain, finished as the runner-up after progressing through the qualifiers and pulled off a stunning upset over 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the first round.

Although the World No. 94, who won 2016 girls’ French Open and was a finalist at the 2017 girls’ Australian Open, failed to make it to the main draw of the upcoming Australian Open 2023, Rebeka Masarova revisited her meeting with Roger Federer at the Grand Slam Down Under in 2017, when she was the girls' finalist. She revealed that they had an extended conversation, and although she was nervous, she felt like they had known each other for ages.

"I met him at the 2017 Australian Open, when I made the junior final. I knew Severin, his coach, and he told me that he would introduce me to him after a training session. I talked with him for a while. It was a super relaxed conversation as if we knew each other from before. I was super nervous. He wished me luck for the future, but he didn't give me any advice," Masarova remarked in an interview with Marca.

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Rebeka Masarova recalls taking up tennis after watching Roger Federer at Wimbledon

Roger Federer won the 2017 Australian Open

In the same interview, Rebeka Masarova stated that she grew up admiring the recently retired Swiss legend. She also opened up about how she began her journey in tennis after watching Roger Federer’s first Wimbledon final and title win in 2003, which inspired her to take up the sport.

"When you're younger, you do look at everyone more, but the one I really liked is Federer," she declared, "In my family no one was an athlete or played tennis. It was an unknown word. I was born in Basel and at the age of four we were watching Federer's first Wimbledon final at home. I said that I wanted to play because I liked it."

"And my mother saw one day that there was a 'Kids day' (day for children) in a school and that's how it all started. The coaches always said that I was good at it. At the age of 10 we moved to Barcelona and I played more and at 12 I was already competing for Europe," she added.