“Playing doubles here with Nadal would be the most beautiful thing because it has been my great rivalry,” Federer stated before the competition.
Roger Federer, the Swedish tennis legend, will compete in the Laver Cup for the final time before retiring. Federer will not compete in singles, but he has one wish for his final doubles match: he wants to play alongside longtime rival and friend Rafael Nadal.
Even though the Spanish veteran Nadal has been one of Federer’s most difficult opponents throughout his career, the two have mutual respect and admiration. When Federer announced his retirement, Nadal said it was an “honor and privilege” to share the court with him and that he knew this was not the end of their friendship.
Federer has a special connection to the Laver Cup, which he helped establish in 2017 to honor tennis legend, Rod Laver. The event pits Europe’s top six male players against the rest of the world’s top six. It is unclear whether he will play alongside Nadal this weekend, as the line-up will be announced on Thursday.
One of Federer’s primary reasons for retiring this year is his ongoing injury problems. The plan for his doubles competition is for 26-year-old Italian Matteo Berrettini to be the on-site alternate and take his place if necessary. Players are usually required to compete in at least one singles match, but Federer was granted an exception after speaking with European captain Bjorn Borg and the ATP.
“Of course, this is an ATP event that I’m not going to mess with,” Federer said. “I asked Bjorn if it was okay if I only played one doubles match… Then Matteo would have to fill in for me and play on Saturday.”
He has had one of the greatest careers in tennis history. His 20 Grand Slam titles rank third all-time, trailing only Rafael Nadal’s 22 and Novak Djokovic’s 21. Federer and Djokovic were both absent from the US Open a few weeks ago, but all three stars will be in London this weekend to help Team Europe defeat Team World for the fifth year in a row.
He is already in town, socializing with some of his teammates when Djokovic and Berrettini got right into the game, sharing a light-hearted video while “scouting” Team World but Nadal has not yet arrived, so he has asked that they wait for him.
During a press conference in London this week, Federer reflected on the beginning of his journey and how he exceeded his expectations having held the world’s No. 1 position for a total of 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks.
“When you imagine yourself as a champion, you see yourself winning one tournament or maybe becoming world No. 1, but not many, many times in a row or staying there for as long as I did,” Federer said. “That was something out of the ordinary.”
Federer is then asked how much his family’s support helped him along the way, and the tears begin to flow.
“Do we have to go there?” he jokes. “I think I’ve done well so far.” I can at least communicate. I was never able to speak in my vision, so I’m doing much better now. Everyone from my family is here tonight, which is fantastic. I’ve had a great time for the past 13 years [of marriage]. Everyone has arrived, both the girls and the boys. My wife has been extremely helpful. She could have stopped me years ago, but she didn’t. She kept me going and let me have fun. It’s incredible. Thank you very much.”