I looked at Roger Federer training & thought, 'That's why he has lasted as long as he has': Mark Petchey

Mark Petchey, a well-known tennis commentator and former coach of Andy Murray, recently talked about the importance that players like Roger Federer attach to training. Petchey revealed that when he watched Federer practice, he could instantly make out why the Swiss is so special.

Petchey was speaking on an espide of the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast, where he recounted his experiences as a coach, among other things. At one point the 51-year-old used the example of Roger Federer, whose off-season training he has observed at Dubai.

Petchey remarked that due to Federer's natural talent, people often forget how much work the Swiss puts in during his practice sessions.

"Watching Roger Federer train on a daily basis and looking at the hard work Federer puts in, there's not one minute of practice that was light-hearted," Petchey said. "I looked at that and thought, 'that's why you have lasted as long as you have, and that's why you are as great as you are'."

During the course of the conversation, Mark Petchey also claimed (at 17:36 in the podcast) that players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are ahead of their contemporaries because of their innate talent. But he was quick to add that talent alone wouldn't have been enough for their sustained dominance; they also needed an insatiable desire to succeed and improve.

"For me, personally, talent is the first and foremost. The hard work, the mental toughness, the strategy - all of those things can be learnt. But you can't learn talent," Petchey said. "Part of their greatness is the talent, but their dominance and longevity has come from everything else they've had - the desire and the hard work."

"Andy Murray showed me there are no shortcuts to ultimate success" - Mark Petchey

Mark Petchey said Andy Murray was the player who showed to him that there are no shortcuts to success

During the podcast Mark Petchey also showered praise on his former ward Andy Murray. Petchey considers Murray to be a perfectionist, and he revealed that the Scot approaches every practice session with nothing less than his absolute best.

"Andy Murray wants to dot every i and cross every t," Petchey said. "Whether it is practice, whether it is training, whether it is anything it is competitive and it has to be done at 100% of the best of everyone's ability."

Mark Petchey also credited Andy Murray for helping him realize that success can be achieved only after years of disciplined hard work.

"What he showed me is that there are no shortcuts to ultimate success," Petchey said. "It is just a volume of hard work and smart work."

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