Roger Federer gives credit where credit is due.
The 17-time major champion says several past opponents helped him become the player he is.
Federer mentioned Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt as the first to force him to improve.
Those two "really made me feel like a bad baseliner to an extent, until I realized I had to move better and be more consistent, have variation in my game," Federer said after his first-round victory at the US Open on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, at the expense of Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.
Federer saved the lone break point he faced and was done in a brisk 77 minutes. The 34th-ranked Mayer had given the 17-time Grand Slam champion trouble in their only previous meeting, when Federer saved five match points to win in three sets in Shanghai last year.
Federer arrived in New York after winning his 87th career title at Cincinnati, where he posted back-to-back victories against Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
Federer shared that he picked up pointers on serve-and-volley tactics from Pete Sampras and Tim Henman, for example.
And more recently, Rafael Nadal made Federer's backhand better.
"Rafa challenged my backhand the most throughout my career," he said. "I had to return differently every single time I played against him."
Federer will be playing for the UAE Royals in the International Premier Tennis League this coming December.
(Sources from Philstar.com and Philippinemavericks.com)