Roger Federer weighs in on intense scrutiny of social media

During an interview with GQ, Roger Federer got candid about the challenges of being in a spotlight and the intense social media scrutiny.

The 40-year-old stated, "I was following Emma Raducanu's incredible run in Wimbledon and also Naomi Osaka these last few years — it's been amazing, both of their stories. But it hurts when you see what happens and when they don't feel well. The stress is so great."

He continued, "And I think a lot has to be down to social media: the first 10 years of my life there was no social media, maybe I had just a website, then the next 10 years social media was everywhere."

The Swiss star thinks "the press situation does need to be reconsidered."

Federer added, "I think players, the tournaments, journalists, we need to sit down together in a room and go, 'OK, what would work for you and what works for us. We need a revolution. Or at least an evolution of where we are today. I think we do need to help, coach and mentor the younger generation more."

He further said he couldn’t "imagine going through the beginning of my career with social media; I have no clue how I would have handled it. For every 10 nice comments, there's always one negative comment and, of course, that is the one you focus on. It's a horrible situation."

The tennis player also asserted that people often forget that the athletes are humans too.