New Delhi: Till a few years back, Ramesh Krishnan firmly believed Bjorn Borg as the greatest tennis player on earth. But after having followed the career of Roger Federer in the past few years, the former India Davis Cup star was forced to change his opinion.

"I always thought Borg as the ultimate, but after what Federer has achieved, I really can't say the same," said Ramesh on the sidelines of a programme organised by the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the French Tennis Federation (FTF).

"Now I feel, overall, Federer is the best. But when it comes to playing on the clay courts, Borg and (Rafael) Nadal still remain unmatched," said Ramesh. While Borg won the French Open six times between 1974 and 1981, Nadal, so far, has bagged it on nine occasions.

Ramesh said the lack of competition in the domestic circuit was one of the main reasons why India were not producing enough good men's singles players.

"In our time, the domestic calendar was strong and competitive. During the winter season, there was no competition in Europe. It helped India to have some good tournaments where top players from other nations also used to come. Now, everything is in Europe... But I do hope one of our current lot of singles players will progress further," said Ramesh, whose best ranking in ATP was 23.

Most comfortable on hard court, Ramesh won seven of his eight ATP career titles on that surface. Known for his gentle and soft nature, Ramesh felt it was unfortunate that Somdev Dev Varman suffered an injury at the crucial time of his career.

"I thought Somdev was coming up very well... But the shoulder injury did not help his cause. Among others, Yuki Bhambri has a bright future... And Sania Mirza has been outstanding recently."