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Cape Town - South Africa’s top tennis player, Kevin Anderson, has recalled a “surreal” feeling earlier in his career when he practiced with Roger Federer.
Anderson is in Washington DC this week where he is playing in the Citi Open - a lead-up hard-court event for the US Open which begins on August 28.
Anderson started his campaign on a solid note by beating Tunisia's Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-1 in their second round meeting on Wednesday, having had a bye in the first round.
In a Q&A session with the ATP World Tour’s official website, Anderson revealed a few interesting anecdotes about his career.
One of the questions posed to Anderson was his “First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour?”.
Anderson gleefully recalled how he had defeated the legendary Swiss in a practice set in 2008.
He answered: “Playing a practice set with Federer in Miami. I had been on the tour for a little bit, and I had seen some of the top guys... I remember I won the practice set, too. I know in hindsight it's just practice stuff but that was a pretty surreal feeling... That was the year I beat Novak (Djokovic) as well. I would have said that but practising with Federer was just a couple days earlier.”
In meetings on the ATP Tour, 19-time Grand Slam champion Federer holds a 4-0 lead in matches against Anderson.
The 31-year-old Anderson is currently ranked 45th on the ATP rankings. He was ranked as high as No 10 in 2015 but subsequent injuries struggles saw his ranking take a dip.
On Thursday at the Citi Open, Anderson will face Austrian top seed Dominic Thiem, who lost to Anderson in all five of their prior meetings.
