'A tennis maniac': Federer's vision for the youth explained by Borfiga and Lapierre

Tennis Canada's Vice President of High Performance, Louis Borfiga and Rogers Cup tournament director, Eugene Lapierre have praised Roger Federer for his contribution to tennis and expect the Swiss man to pass down his knowledge to the younger generation who aspire to follow his footsteps.

Federer had a disappointing end to the 2017 campaign, losing the ATP World Tour semi-finals to David Goffin, thus ending a fine run, leading to a total of seven titles, including two Grand Slams - the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

The Swiss man ended the year only second to Rafael Nadal in the ATP rankings and pinpointed the loss to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart and to Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai for missing out on the top spot. At 36, his love for tennis remains unparalleled and has been backed to lead the way for youngsters by the Canadian veterans.

However, despite a stellar year, one title that eluded him was the Rogers Cup where he made it through to the final only to lose to Germany's Alexander Zverev, who won 6-3 6-4 in Montreal, Canada. Despite the nature of the defeat he is still seen as a role model for youngsters in Canada who are looking to progress in the game.

Lapierre was effusive in his praise for Federer, calling him a tennis maniac who sent messages of encouragement to the Swiss Under-14 team before an international competition. Borfiga was in agreement with Lapierre, expecting Federer to pass on his tennis knowledge to those who seek it.

"Federer is a tennis maniac," Lapierre said," as quoted the Express. "His agent Tony Godsick told me that recently, before one of his matches, he sent messages of support to the Swiss team 14 years and under who participated in an international competition! He follows everything, absolutely everything."

Putting his vision into action, Federer has already invited teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime, part of the next-gen superstars, who will get the chance to spend part of December training with him.

"Federer loves tennis, he's a real fan. He watches the 14 and 15-year-olds play all the time. I think he wants to help the new generation," Borfiga added. "I also think he likes Felix and his personality. He wants to give back some of what tennis has given to him. He wants to help Felix... maybe avoid some of the traps that would be good to avoid at his age."