Former World No. 1 tennis star Marcelo Rios says he cannot imagine Roger Federer ever going out at night and getting drunk during a tournament. The Chilean star was speaking on Instagram Live and also spoke about how he liked the style of Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and Italy’s Fabio Fognini on the court as they were able to show their emotions on the court.
Marcelo Rios speaks about Roger Federer
“I can’t imagine Federer going out at night and getting drunk. I drank alcohol and went out and obviously I couldn’t be like that every day. (Kyrgios and Fognini) I like to see that kind of tennis.
Nowadays you throw a racket to the floor and you are fined. Tennis has too many rules.” Rios also spoke about the current pandemic and criticized the approach of the United States as they have started re-opening some parts of the economy.
“I have a lot of respect and fear. I’m not ready to die. What is happening is rare because it (the United States) is the most infected country and there are shopping centers, Disney. I cannot understand how large and local spaces are opened with so many positive cases.”
Marcelo Ríos became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the ATP singles rankings in 1998. He held the world No. 1 ranking for six weeks. He also held the top ranking in both juniors and seniors.
He was the first player to win all three clay-court Masters Series tournaments (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg) since the format began in 1990) and the third male player in history (after Michael Chang and Pete Sampras) to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami Masters in one year), which he achieved in 1998.
He is also the only male player in the Open era to have been world No. 1 without winning a Grand Slam singles tournament in his career. He reached one Grand Slam singles final – the 1998 Australian Open final, losing to Petr Korda in straight sets.
He retired prematurely in July 2004 due to a back injury. Rios and Federer played twice in their careers – with Federer winning both of their matches.
