In what could be interpreted as a criticism of the current generation of players, former World No. 1 and current tennis coach Boris Becker rues the fact that the sport today is not as exciting as in the previous era because of the lack of rivalries and personalities, on and off the court.

“Why have players not created rivalries? For example: Michael Stich and I got along well and everyone knew it. Now we're good friends, but at that time we were happy to say that we weren't friends, and they asked us every time we had to face each other,” Becker, the current coach of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, explained in his autobiography as pointed out by puntodebreak.com about his take on the lack of real rivalries in today’s game.

“It made life more complicated especially because our wives didn't get along at that time. Once I told the media: 'Look, I've less friends, I think it's normal, and Michael is not one of them, but that doesn't mean that I hate him. He's not one of my closer friends.”

Becker and Stich met 12 times over the course of their respective careers with Becker winning the head-to-head match-up, 8 wins against 4 losses. While Becker has the upper hand overall, one of Stich’s victories came in the final of the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, where the latter pulled off the big upset in straight sets, 6–4 7–6(4) 6–4.

Becker also touched on the subject of the lack of "personalities" in the sport, specifically mentioning Roger Federer, a player who prefers not to show his emotions on the court. Curiously, Becker lauded Federer’s rivals Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the players he looks up to with regards to their on-court energy and personality.

“I think Novak and Rafa, with their passionate style, found a solution to encourage the stands with their fist pumps, not necessarily against the opponent, but to support one's emotions,” Becker added. “I hope we can relax a bit the code of conduct so we can see the personalities of the players for the next generation of tennis lovers. I think that would add much to the game.”

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