After his second round win over Croat Ivo Karlovic, world No. 5 Roger Federer spoke candidly about what the American tennis system could do to improve the caliber and quantity of its players on the ATP Tour.

“It's maybe a little more difficult than what it used to be,” began Federer. “I feel most important is the work ethic and making sure that the kids you are training with understand that it's not just the coach's job to motivate them or, you know, that if you win a junior tournament you're actually great. You're far away from it. You have to keep working hard. I think that's maybe something that other countries might be doing really well.”

He was quick to admit that despite having two Slam champions at the top of the men's ranking, Switzerland has faced similar issues too.

“We have the same problems in our country even though we have produced Stan [Wawrinka] and [other] great players,” the 32-year-old continued. “Many [players] did it by themselves as well without a federation sometimes.”

Though Federer utilized the services provided by the Swiss Tennis Federation, he admits to “eventually realizing myself what it took to make it through. Because you can't have the parents and the coaches make you feel good all the time. You have to make sacrifices. I left home at 14-years-old, stopped school at 16, and went on tour.”

But he states it only got harder from there to keep his barings and really fully grasp life as an athlete. “[I] had a hard time understanding what hard work was, but eventually I figured it out, thankfully, early enough. But I think that is the key at the end. If the kids don't understand and don't want to put in the hard work, not talking about just hanging around the courts and playing for four hours a day ‑ it's about working well and quality ‑ they will never get anywhere. It's just very simple.”

So should parents put their kids in academies or individualized coaching systems?

“Anything is the future,” he continues. “I mean, the federation needs to be strong. Players need to have good coaching, a good place … it doesn't matter [where]. You can also do it all by yourself.  What the Williams sisters did or [Martina] Hingis did all works. So, tennis, that's the beauty of it: there is actually no perfect route to becoming world No. 1.”

(Photo courtesy of Sony Open Tennis)