Becker Believes Personalities Are Back In Tennis Boris Becker By Tennis Week 06/29/2005 From his glory days as the youngest Wimbledon winner at the age of 17 years, seven months to his current position as a commentator in the BBC broadcast booth, Boris Becker has watched the shifting styles and changing characters across the tennis landscape. The three-time Wimbledon champion believes the current collection of top 10 players bring both power and personality to the game. Personality-wise, I think we have a bunch of players right now who have a lot of personality," Becker told Newsweek in an interview. "Federer is a class act, and Rafael Nadal is an interesting character. But I think mistake [was] made [in] mixing personality and bad behavior. Federer is an example for the young people. He carries himself with grace, he is very smart, he speaks four languages and he is one of the very best players of all time. He has not been married five times, he does not have any major scandals. There are others like Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick who are characters, but they are all young and we need to give them a little bit of breathing room." The seven-time Wimbledon finalist is convinced he would pose problems for both Federer and Roddick if were playing today. "I think I would have given them a very hard time, especially on the grass or on the surface that suits me well like a hard court," said Becker who has tabbed Federer as the favorite to capture another Wimbledon championship on Sunday. The former No. 1 who raised his first Wimbledon title trophy 20 years ago and appeared in his last Wimbledon final a decade ago said improved racquet technology has reduced the number of serve-and-volleyers in the sport, but believes the mental prowess required to be a top player has not changed all that much. "Because of the technology of the rackets [so] players can hit winners from way behind the baseline — therefore the net game is not so necessary anymore to become a top five player," Becker told Newsweek. "It did not change because the mentality is the same [for] a top player." --

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