Roger Federer was tennis' most charismatic ever player, according to Alex Corretja

Following the announcement of his forthcoming retirement, the world of tennis has been paying tribute to 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

As well as his masterful approach to the game, the Swiss icon will be fondly remembered for his gentlemanly manner both on and off the court.

After hearing that Federer will bow out of competitive tennis after the Laver Cup, Eurosport expert Alex Corretja said: “Well, I’m absolutely down. I’m a little bit sad of course.

"We knew that that was going to happen but definitely when I saw that news I was like 'no, no way'. I can’t believe that he’s saying that he’s not going to play any more professional tennis. Because he’s special, because he’s different.”

Corretja thinks Federer brought anticipatory excitement to his matches. He said: “By seeing Roger next to you, you always feel that something is going to happen. He has been so kind, he has been so elegant.”

“I feel that he is someone unique and someone that, of course, we will miss, and especially the way he was playing, the way he was drawing the ball on the court, the way he was moving and the way he was just walking on the court next to you is something that definitely we will miss, he said.

For nearly two decades, Federer has dominated men’s tennis alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, with the trio often nicknamed the ‘Big Three’.

That trio will soon be down to two, and Corretja feels Djokovic and Nadal have lost their leader, saying: “I think for Novak and Rafa, Roger was the hero. Roger was the example to follow.

“The way he was acting off the court also being so humanitarian all the time and show friendship, fair play and such an elegance. They might feel something is missing inside their heart as well. When you’ve played against someone, such important moments of your life, and you share such intense situations then sharing also a team together somehow at the Laver Cup. For sure, they’re very touched as well by the decision of Roger”, he said.

Corretja is interested to see how Nadal and Djokovic respond to Federer retiring. He said: “They will miss him. When you play against someone that it gets 100% out of you that you need to play your best to beat him. It's always something inside there that shows you that he was special and Roger, definitely he was probably the most charismatic player we ever had in tennis.”

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are widely regarded as the greatest male players to have ever played the game. However, many people want to narrow that down further and decide which player is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).

The statistics are not too helpful, as they all beat each other in different areas. Nadal currently has the most Grand Slam wins with 22, Djokovic has spent the most amount of time as World No.1 but Federer has the most career titles out of the trio.

Corretja finds it an almost impossible argument. “What’s the question about the GOAT? It is, what, it’s only about results? It is about what you give to people. It is about what people think about you. It can be very big, the question.

“I think, if we only go by numbers, then we will need to, all of them waiting to see when they finish their careers to see who would believe he was better. Then you need to choose what’s more important. The number one weeks, the Masters, the Masters 1000, the Davis Cups, the Grand Slams. You don’t need to just think about the results because the results go on and off and one day you will retire. I think it should be something more globally, what do you think is best for tennis and for the whole world itself”, he said.

Corretja thinks the impact Federer has made in tennis, and in sport in general, will be clear to see in the years to come.

“Thirty years time, or forty years time, Roger Federer will be still someone that everyone would like to talk to him, interview him, or see him walking next to you and this is because he went way over tennis.”

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