

While playing the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, Roger Federer has said his piece about Boris Becker’s widely publicized comments about him. The German star, who made the media rounds last week to promote his book “Wimbledon: My Life and Career at the All England Club,” basically stated that Federer tries too hard to be liked by everybody. He also went on to say that Federer and Novak Djokovic “don’t particularly like each other.”



Read the Full USA Today Exclusive on Federer Here



Naturally his words, however innocent, caused a ripple in the tennis world. Becker took to social media late last week to say that he felt he had been misquoted and generally done wrong by the media; he also stated that that he had the utmost respect for Federer.



Speaking to USA Today Sports, Federer addressed the subject, saying "I don't really know what he was trying to say. I know him somewhat well and we get along really well. He was a hero of mine. It's odd to hear that. I don't try to please everyone. I'm just trying to be myself.”



According to the article, written by Nick McCarvel, Federer chalked up the comments to the fact that Becker wants to promote his book. Those sentiments were echoed in this tweet by British journalist Stuart Fraser:



Some good stuff from Roger Federer in Berner Zeitung. Including this on Boris Becker. http://t.co/m00ASAlzKM pic.twitter.com/MT3vIe5Nzc — Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) June 17, 2015

Many of the old generation pine for the days when fierce battles on the court often turned into wars of words as well as strokes—it’s a commonly held sentiment that has been expressed by the likes of John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and now Becker—but Federer says decorum is just a part of who he is. And he doesn’t plan to change.



"Maybe it's a big misunderstanding,” he said according to USA Today Sports. “Maybe it's something [Becker] truly feels is the case. All I know is that I was brought up to be polite and to respect everybody. I feel like it's important to be a role model for kids. If that's a problem, I'm sorry."