Boris Becker says his generation would have not taken kindly to Roger Federer’s new SABR return tactics and the six-time major champion added that his generation would have purposely tried to hit him if Federer had attempted it against them.

You can see the full video on Sky Sports here

“If he would have played McEnroe, Lendl or Connors—or even me—we would have said ‘Roger, in all honesty, I like you very much [but] one more time, and I’ll go straight at you,” Becker said while on the set of Sky Sports.

“In my generation, guys wouldn’t have accepted as it is now,” Becker said.

Greg Rusedski, who was also joining the interview with Annabel Croft, shared the same views.

“I’m kind of shocked that most people like him so much—which is understandable, he’s a great guy, great ambassador—but you’ve got to say ‘Okay I’m going to stand up to you, and that’s a way of standing up to him and shocking him,” Rusedski said, adding: “You’ll get booed by the whole crowd but that’s life. You just have to show that competitor in you.”

“It’s almost disrespecting the other guy’s serve,” said Becker, who continued by saying that while Federer is well within his rights in conducting his sneak attack returns, a serve would also be well within the rights to hit right at him while he’s at the net.