"I've never seen anyone that loved the game like Roger Federer, never a day where he didn't find some joy" - Ex-coach Paul Annacone

Roger Federer's former coach Paul Annacone recently opined that nobody loved the game of tennis more than the 20-time Grand Slam champion.

Federer retired from the sport in 2022 after an illustrious career spanning over two decades, collecting 103 ATP titles including 20 Grand Slam titles.

Federer and Annacone teamed up from 2010 to 2013, a period that saw the former World No. 1 win successive ATP Finals in 2010 and 2011, and a solitary Grand Slam at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

Annacone recently appeared on the Rock n Roll Tennis podcast, where he maintained that the Federer's love for the game of tennis reigns supreme, and that he always found joy in what he did.

"This guy [Roger Federer], I've never seen anyone, I don't think, that loved the game, like he loves the game. I mean, all the time I was with him for those four years, never a day where it was arduous to get him on a practice court. Never a day where he didn't find some joy in what he was doing," Annacone said. (41:40)

The former coach reflected on his fun training sessions with Federer and how the Swiss would invite young players to practice with him.

"I remember watching him train with Pierre Paganini thinking you still want to do this stuff, but he's laughing and doing drills with medicine balls and, you know, kidding around with Severin [Luthi] in French, speaking in French with Pierre. And then we get on the practice court and we find games that he's just loving and getting, you know, young players out there to practice with him that are just starting their career. So, it was fun for Roger to be around a young player where he sees all this youthful exuberance and also for the young player to be able to be a sponge and watch what happens," Annacone said. (42:05)

The 60-year-old also fondly recounted an interaction with Federer that illustrated the former player's love for the game.

"You know, he just genuinely loved the game of tennis. And he said to me, I remember early on, he said, 'Look, I just want to get out there and enjoy what I'm doing and see if I can get better at some of the stuff that I'm doing now. I want to get better and see if I can add new elements to my game.' And that's one of the things, and probably the most exciting thing to me was, when you have a player of his age that achieved that much, but has so many weapons, that still likes to play and wants to see if they can get better in certain areas. That was kind of it for me. I was like, wow, I didn't want to have to try to convince somebody to play, to try," he said. (42:40)

"Roger Federer was not like Pete Sampras": Former coach Paul Annacone

Roger Federer pictured at the 2022 Laver Cup in London

Before mentoring Roger Federer, Paul Annacone also coached 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras from 1996 to 2002. Speaking in the Rock n Roll Tennis podcast, the 60-year-old maintained that unlike the Swiss, Sampras was extremely tired by the end of his career and detested the physical demands of the sport.

"You know, Pete [Sampras] at the end of Pete's career was tired. He was emotionally tired and didn't really want to deal with all the rigors anymore, and he earned that. Roger wasn't like that," he said (43:25).

Annacone said that the 20-time Grand Slam champion "loved to be a citizen of the world".

"Roger loved to play, he loved to travel, took his family everywhere. They went to museums. They saw the world. He loved to be a citizen of the world, loved to play tennis matches, loved people. And so I knew that it wasn't going to be a heavy lifting coaching job in terms of trying to get him just to motivate, just to try to get better," Annacone said.

The American added that it was never a difficult task to coach the Swiss.

So that was the reason that I was sold so quickly. I was sold so quickly. Two good meals with him, a couple of great conversations, a couple of great practice sessions, and I was like, boy, this is going to be a lot of fun," he added. (43:34)

The only time Roger Federer faced Pete Sampras was in the fourth round of the 2001 Wimbledon Championship, where the 19-year-old Swiss beat the American legend 7-6(7) 5-7 6-4 6-7(2) 7-5.