Federer's Homeland Inspires McEnroe

John McEnroe came through a heated 6-3, 7-6 (2) battle with Frenchman Henri Leconte on Wednesday night at the BNP Paribas Zurich Open, and then revealed that playing in Roger Federer's homeland had inspired him.

McEnroe, who recently told the ATP Champions Tour website that Federer is unequivocally the greatest tennis player ever, said:

"It’s nice to know that I’m near to where Federer practices, that’s pretty cool. It makes me more pumped up because the greatest player of all time is from here.”

As usual, McEnroe didn't take much 'pumping up'. He has often been irritated at the way in which Leconte moves so seamlessly between comedic moments with the crowd to damaging strokes of utter genius.

“I love the way Leconte plays and the way he hits the ball but it’s a little bit annoying when you’re playing against him because he can hit some great shots," said McEnroe. "You just have to try and keep your concentration and stick with it while he’s doing his thing. I think I did a good job of that in the end today.”

A couple of weeks after pushing Pat Rafter all the way in the final of the Delray Beach ATP Champions Tour event, McEnroe will face another all-action serve-and-volley specialist in his second round-robin match when he meets Stefan Edberg on Thursday. They met 13 times on the professional circuit, with McEnroe edging the head-to-head 7-6. Edberg won the most recent five encounters, however, including two straight-set victories at Wimbledon in 1989 and 1991. This will be their first clash on the ATP Champions Tour.

“I know Stefan is going to be a really tough opponent," said McEnroe, who currently tops Group B in Zurich.

"I know he’s fit and moving great so it’s going to be a challenge. But I think I’m playing well and hitting the ball well so hopefully I’ll be even better tomorrow. It’s going to be tough but it’s also going to be interesting. I love playing a fellow serve-and-volleyer. I played Rafter in Delray Beach a couple of weeks ago and that was great so it’s definitely a challenge and I think this court suits both of us.”

Earlier in the day, Edberg defeated Richard Krajicek 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 (Champions' Tie Break) in an exhausting encounter that brought back bad memories for Krajicek of the five-set thrillier that Edberg won between the two in the fourth round of the 1992 US Open. Krajicek admits that it took months for him to get over that loss, given that he was so close to victory and Edberg went on to win the title. The way in which he left the court today suggested that he wasn't very happy about losing in Zurich, either.

Meanwhile, in Group A, Goran Ivanisevic extended his lead at the top of the standings with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Sergi Bruguera.

Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in the final.

After Zurich, the ATP Champions Tour will move on to Bogota, Colombia for the the city’s first ever ATP Champions Tour event, The Seguors Bolivar Tennis Champions (March 18-21). After that the Tour will arrive in Sao Paulo for the fourth annual Grand Champions Brazil.

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, click results.

The BNP Paribas Zurich Open runs from the 9th to the 13th of March. For the very latest scores, follow us on twitter.