Roger Federer, 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Tennis - Australian Open - Men's singles final - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, January 29, 2018. Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates with the trophy outside the Rod Laver Arena after he won the final against Croatia's Marin Cilic. Reuters / Issei Kato

World No. 1 Roger Federer is a fan of the rising young stars of tennis. However, the 36-year-old Swiss is not convinced that any of the young players will emulate him and fellow veterans Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in winning more than ten Grand Slams.

Federer (20), Nadal (16) and Djokovic (12) have won a combined 48 Grand Slam titles over the last two decades. Andy Murray (3), Stan Wawrinka (3) and Marin Cilic (1) are the only other players to win Grand Slams since the start of the decade.

With Djokovic and Murray dealing with chronic injuries, Federer and Nadal made spectacular returns in 2017, winning the previous five Grand Slam events. During the span, none of the sport's young stars has come close to upsetting the apple cart.

The ATP GenNext features a talented pool of players headlined by World No. 5 Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov, Andrey Rublev, Hyeon Chung, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem. However, none of them has yet to appear in a Grand Slam final.

“It is definitely hard to see one player right now getting 10 slams. It is much easier to say that probably a lot of guys are going to win a slam or two but winning 10 slams is not something you can predict, people didn’t predict that with me to be honest. Maybe with Rafa (Nadal) with the French Open you say yes he is going to grab a few there. Maybe he is going to win five (he has 10 to his name) as he was an amazing junior as well like Bjorn Borg, they were the best teenagers we ever had in the game," Federer told reporters ahead of the 2018 Laureus awards.

Roger Federer to be honoured at Laureus awards

Federer in Monaco after winning the Rotterdam Open where he beat Dimitrov in the final. With the victory, Federer became the oldest World No. 1 in Open Era history.

“Once you get rolling like Novak (Djokovic) and I did all of a sudden you don’t look back, then a few years later you do look back and you have eight or 10 grand slam titles, its crazy. Confidence and momentum are a big thing. When you unlock your game through success or a coach explains the one ingredient that is missing then that can change things," Federer added, via Agence France-Presse.

Roger Federer will be presented with two Laureus awards on Tuesday evening (Wednesday AEDT) -- “Comeback of the Year” and “Sportsman of the Year.” When Federer and Nadal suffered career-threatening injuries in 2016, several tennis analysts felt that the younger generation was ready to take over the sport. However, the jury is still out on the ATP GenNext.