Meet the Irishman who beat a young Roger Federer – and missed out on a Wimbledon re-match

Conor Niland never dreamed that the youngster he beat in an under-14 match back in 1994 was destined to become an all-time great of the game.

Rising Irish tennis prospect Niland was playing for his country in the Winter Cup when some friendly matches were arranged between the Swiss team that were also taking part in the competition.

Ireland’s best player got a chance to take on one of the young guns in the Swiss team and he didn’t think too much about his 7-5 6-2 win until he stumbled across a scrapbook that chronicled his tennis journey and realised the name of his opponent in that match was a certain Roger Federer.

Federer was still a raw talent at the time and just a few years later, Niland was alerted to his progress just four years later when the same young man from Switzerland appeared in the Royal Box at Wimbledon to accept his trophy after he won the Junior Boys’ title at the All England Club.

That success gave Niland hope that he could be a match for the best junior players in the world on the senior tour, yet he would never get back onto the same track as the icon who became one of the greatest players of all-time.

Fererer’s 20 Grand Slams title and his eight wins at Wimbledon secured him a place among the game’s legends long before he hung up his racket, with his former opponent following a very different path in the game.

To his credit, Niland enjoyed great success of his own as he went on to play in the main draw at Wimbledon and also played against Novak Djokovic on Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2011 as he became the most successful Irish player in the Open Era, yet he is asked about his meeting with Federer more than most matches in his career.

Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 as he launched his compelling new book ‘The Racket’, Niland reflected on a junior contest that didn’t strike him as being significant at the time.

“I was only about 12 at the time when I played Federer, so I probably wasn’t the most insightful tennis observer, but I remember his looseness on court and it was a little different to other kids I was playing at that time,” said Niland, who is Ireland’s Davis Cup captain and reached a career-high of No 137 in the ATP rankings.

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“There are a lot of stories about him having a bad temper when he was growing up, but he didn’t reveal any of that in my match.

“At the time, I remember Olivier Rochus was a player who was incredibly talented and I could also see that Justine Henin was a very good player.

“To be honest, at the time, Federer didn’t really stand out. He had some nice shots and was very relaxed on court, but nothing amazing.

“Then I saw him winning Wimbledon for the first time and it just looked like he had jumped ten levels from the player I remember.

“It just shows that you can’t predict who is going to be extra special and who isn’t.”

Niland admits Federer may not have remembered him from their junior encounter when they bumped into each other in senior tour locker rooms, with Federer’s career moving into the stratosphere and his one-time rival struggling to flourish at a lower level of the game.

The Racket takes readers behind the scenes of life on the ATP Challenger Tour and the battle to survive, with Niland among the select few who emerged from that competitive world to make it in the big-time.

Indeed, Niland was in touching distance of a rematch with Federer back in 2011, as he was 4-1 up against France’s Adrian Mannarino in the first round at Wimbledon.

A meeting with Federer on the iconic All England Club Centre Court was the prize for the winner of that match, yet Mannarino came back to clinch the victory and deny the Irishman his chance to play on the biggest stage in tennis.

“The Manarino match still hurts,” added Niland of the contest from 13 years ago. “I was up 4-1, double break. I should have won. I wanted to stay aggressive and went for a bit too much. I didn’t want to give him momentum, but I was over-aggressive and gave him momentum that way.

“Obviously, I played Djokovic on a stadium court at the US Open and that helped me to get over the Wimbledon defeat and what might have been against Federer. Let’s be honest, playing Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon would have been a nice takeaway from my career and it’s hard to get away from that.

“I have moved on, you have to, and this book has probably helped with that.”

We will have more from our exclusive Tennis365 interview with Conor Niland in the coming days.

The Racket by Conor Niland is available now.