{"id":2754,"date":"2026-09-07T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2754"},"modified":"2026-09-07T16:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T16:00:40","slug":"meet-the-17-year-old-atp-star-roger-federer-truly-believes-can-become-a-grand-slam-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2754","title":{"rendered":"Meet the 17-year-old ATP star Roger Federer \u2018truly believes\u2019 can become a Grand Slam champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer<\/a> has dipped his toe back into the world of tennis this year, four years since retiring at the 2022 Laver Cup.<\/p>\n

Federer was rarely seen at the big events following his retirement from the sport, but the 2026 season has been filled with appearances from the 20-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

The star appeared at the Australian Open at the beginning of the season, where he played an exhibition doubles match, as well as a practice set alongside Casper Ruud.<\/p>\n

At Wimbledon, the Swiss star watched the action from Centre Court\u2019s Royal Box, while the star played another exhibition match at this year\u2019s US Open.<\/p>\n

According to a new report, Federer has been just as switched on about the next generation of tennis stars and he has reportedly tipped a teenager for major success.<\/p>\n

More Roger Federer news<\/h2>\n

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Why Roger Federer will always be the GOAT in the eyes of so many tennis aficionados<\/a><\/p>\n

In a report in New Idea Magazine<\/a>, an unnamed source suggesting Federer<\/a> is very much impressed with Cruz Hewitt\u2019s<\/a> early career so far.<\/p>\n

The Australian, who is the son of Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt<\/a>, made his ATP Tour<\/a> debut this year and claimed his very first victory at the Washington Open.<\/p>\n

According to the report: \u201cRoger truly believes Cruz has got the potential to go all the way in the years ahead. And it\u2019s a two-way street, everyone knows how much respect Cruz has for Roger and that he looks up to him alongside his dad as a true legend of the game, if not the undisputed GOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Federer believes Hewitt has all the tools to excel on the ATP Tour, he is under no illusion about the hard work, and luck, it takes to get to the very top.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure can be enormous, Roger\u2019s candid about that,\u201d continued the report. \u201cEven with all his success, Roger would have done certain things a little differently. He\u2019s humble enough to share those guidelines with Cruz, he sees him as a true superstar in the making.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s not sugarcoating some of his advice, as he truly believes that sacrifices are the name of the game. For all the talent in the world, Cruz is going to need to grit his teeth and buckle down if he wants to get to the top and stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hewitt reached the final of the Wimbledon<\/a> juniors event this year and he is almost certain to receive a wildcard into the Australian Open<\/a> in 2027.<\/p>\n

The Australian is currently set to play a Challenger event in Vietnam while the very best of tennis duke it out in the second week of the US Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The post Meet the 17-year-old ATP star Roger Federer \u2018truly believes\u2019 can become a Grand Slam champion<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Federer has dipped his toe back into the world of tennis this year, four years since retiring at the 2022 Laver Cup. Federer was rarely seen at the big events following his retirement from the sport, but the 2026 season has been filled with appearances from the 20-time Grand Slam champion. The star appeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}