YOU may not know Dominik Hrbaty, you may not have watched Dominik Hrbaty play, but you should listen to Dominik Hrbaty.

Why? Because his head-to-head record against Roger Federer is 2-1, against Rafael Nadal it's 3-1, against Andy Murray it's 1-0. Ok, fine, he last beat Roger in 2004, and says himself he hasn't beat Nadal since he turned No.1, but why spoil a good story. As raw stats go, they're superb.

Hrbaty knows tennis because he's been around tennis forever. So long that he actually played Sampras and Agassi, Yup, you're right, he's beaten them, too.

Now fading after 12 years on tour, an Australian colleague and I cornered him to find out what players think about, well, Roger for instance. Have things changed?

Said the Slovak: "There is no change. When you go to play against Roger you always know that he is the favourite, he is the one who has to win. Maybe the only difference is now when you go on the court with Roger you get one or two balls that you didn't get before. There is no other difference. (If) he will play the game that he played two years ago, then he is the same Roger again and no one will beat him. So it's all about Roger, there is nothing about the other players if you have a chance or you don't have a chance."      

Hrbaty (above) thinks Federer is still one of the best.
Source: REUTERS

Those one or two balls you didn't get before? Explain please.

"He miss sometimes the ball that he didn't miss two years ago, but it all depends on Roger. If he stops missing these balls, nobody will beat him again. It's only about himself. Usually these guys (at) No.1, they have to fight against themselves."

So is he on the wane?

"No, far from it. He doesn't have any injuries because he plays so relaxed. He has the all-court game, he doesn't work on the court like Rafa, (who) has to work for every point."

Everyone who plays Roger wants to beat him, he insists. Now it's the same with Nadal. "(Rafa's) playing well now, but now he's going to get much more pressure. It's different now to be No.1 and No.2 ... everybody watch him, if he going to be able to win in Paris again, if he be able to win Wimbledon again. And then it makes more pressure, you get more tired, you get more injuries.

"Rafa is kind of guy, he gets more injuries than Roger, and that can affect his future. I think also to be No.1 is much shorter than Roger be No.1 because he has to work much harder for it. If you don't have a talent like Roger has, then it's not that easy."

So what about Nadal, should he alter his game, flatten his shots of hardcourts for quick points? Nada, he says.

"No, never change your game, that is the first secret of the players. Once you change your game dramatically --- and this is dramatic change --- you're going to play shots you are not used to. Once you change something inside you which is not natural to you, it affect your game and you lose couple of matches, it's gonna affect your mind. And then it affects all your tennis."

Murray, of course, is the man of the moment, but Hrbaty is not yet convinced that he's the best man in tennis.

"When I play against him, he was always guy who tried to get you through his tricky shots, you know, drop shots. Sometimes faking that he cannot breathe, faking something on the court, making you think, 'Ah, this guy is down!' Playing mental games, you know?"

But I don't think now is the era of tennis that you can use the tricks to win the grand slam. You can win maybe the small tournaments, but grand slams, where the guys always play the best, it doesn't count. Everybody is so focused these days.

"I think he changed the last couple of months, and that's why he started winning. His game is not as perfect as Nadal and Federer, I think these two guys are much more in front. If he beats them at the Masters Series or wherever, that's one thing, they've won so many of these tournaments that maybe their concentration is going down. (But) grand slam is the history of tennis. Grand slam is where you're making yourself untouchable. That's something different, why I think Murray is still a step behind them. It can change quickly."