On Saturday, Roger Federer was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

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Federer clinched his first major crown at the Wimbledon Championships back in 2003, beating Mark Philippoussis in the title bout

It was then that American tennis great John McEnroe realised we were about to witness something truly special for the next two decades.

John McEnroe discusses Roger Federer’s career

Speaking in an interview with Tennis Channel, McEnroe said: “You know, he was playing the round of 16 of Wimbledon, I believe it was 2003, which I think is the first year he won it.

“And he was playing Feliciano Lopez, and he was sort of going there. He looked negative, and his back was bothering him.

“This is a story I remember. I hope it’s true. But he’s sort of like, and he was getting a bit of a reputation as, you know, dare I say, slightly soft.

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“You know, when’s he going to fulfil his potential? I think he did okay, as it turned out. But at that time, it was sort of like he was looking, sometimes for a way out instead of a way in, and that matched me mentally.

“He changed, he dug in, found a way to get through it, even though he wasn’t 100%. And I think he found, realised that he had another gear, and you know, not only with his ability, but also with his mentality.

“And I think from that point on, when he won it, the door’s going to go wide open. I didn’t think it’d be 20, but you know, he’s one of the most beautiful players I’ve watched play tennis.”

John McEnroe said Roger Federer took tennis to a new level

McEnroe continued: “I idolise Rod Laver. He was up there, but Roger or something. My impression was that he was taking it up to another level.

“You know, that’s the idea in sports is that, you know, records are made to be broken. You would sort of anticipate and expect that players, you know, 10, 20 years from now, I shudder to think what they’ll be playing like now, if they have to deal with the Federers, the Djokovics, the world, what they have accomplished. But you know, he took the game up to another level.

“Some of it was the technology, but some of it, you could see that incredible talent that we’ve always seen from, really, from the very beginning.

“So once that door opened, the rest is history. Well, I don’t know if he anticipated the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic when he was, you know, sort of breaking through and dominating five straight US Opens.”

Federer was ultimately surpassed in major titles by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who won 22 and 24, respectively.