"Novak Djokovic ruined beautiful sport because he never had it in him to innovate" - Fans react to Roger Federer bemoaning the lack of variety on tour

Roger Federer's remarks about the lack of variety in today's game have sparked a discussion among tennis fans.

In a recent interview with GQ Sports, Federer expressed dismay at the diminishing popularity of the one-handed backhand, lamenting its absence in the current top 10 of the ATP rankings.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion also bemoaned the lack of variety in playing styles in today's game, with baseliners dominating the tour.

"What we get more and more nowadays is that I wish that sometimes we had a little bit more variety, and also back and forth coming to the net a little bit more, not just side to side," Federer said.

"We’ll see where the game will go. But obviously the problem is when you have a lot of similar players playing against each other, a lot of the points end up being played in a similar fashion," he added.

The Swiss legend also shared that he always employed the strategy of mixing up his shots during matches to disrupt his opponent's rhythm.

"And my goal on the tour was always—playing every point in a similar way against my opponent is what he wants. What he doesn’t want is if I mix it up and have variety," Federer said.

"So for me, seeing two guys play against each other and have 20 same points back to back to back, come on. It can be very interesting. It’s like an arm wrestle. But I like to say, "Let’s not enter the arm wrestle. Let’s enter another game,"" he added.

Tennis fans agreed with Roger Federer's assessment of today's game, with one attributing the lack of variety to Novak Djokovic's impact and suggesting that the Serb has "ruined" the sport due to his lack of innovation.

"Djoker ruined beautiful sport because he never had it in him to innovate anything!! His arsenal is literally pushing to the limit and hope!! No wonder he's been placed as a 3rd option by the tennis fraternity," the fan posted.

Meanwhile, other fans claimed that Carlos Alcaraz stands out as the only player on tour who provides variety in his playing style.

"Carlos Alcaraz is the only top player today that provides that variety, the rest of the best are all more or less boring baseliners," a fan commented.

"Carlos: 🙋‍♂️ The rest: .....," another fan chimed in.

Here are a few more reactions from fans on X:

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Roger Federer: "I love to see Novak Djokovic going from strength to strength"

Roger Federer (left) and Novak Djokovic

During his interview with GQ Sports, Roger Federer revealed that while he does not make special time in his schedule to catch Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's matches, he's aware of what they are up to.

"I mean obviously you’re aware when they’re in the finals or you’re aware when Rafa comes back or you’re aware when Novak breaks another record.

"It’s all good, you know? But I will not set my schedule aside, like, well, This match I have to see," Federer said.

The former World No. 1 also expressed his delight at witnessing Djokovic's unparalleled success on tour and sympathized with Nadal, as the Spaniard's injury setbacks have kept him away from competitive tennis.

"But obviously I’ve followed it and I love to see that, especially Novak’s been going from strength to strength. It keeps on going. And Rafa obviously, I felt sad for him that he has not been able to play nearly as much or at all to what he wanted to do," he added.