An emotional Roger Federer is consoled by his playing partner Rafael Nadal after their Laver Cup doubles match in London on Friday. (Photo: AP)Seldom have sporting swan songs been perfect. Especially for the perfectionists. For Roger Federer, the result of his last competitive appearance on a Tennis court was no different — a 6-4, 6-7 and 9-11 defeat in a doubles match at the 2022 Laver Cup. However, just a glance at the man who shared the same side of the court with him would change the belief. Federer teaming up with Rafael Nadal for his farewell match was more than what the watchers of the game could’ve asked for. More than the duo themselves could’ve asked for.
“Playing doubles with Rafa would be the most beautiful thing,” Federer had said in the press conference on Wednesday, September 21. With the dream match confirmed as reality on Thursday, Nadal shared a similar sentiment. “One of the most important, if not the most important players in my tennis career is leaving. At the end, this moment will be difficult. I’m super-excited and grateful to play with him.”
If there’s one thing you watch today, make it this.#LaverCup | @rogerfederer pic.twitter.com/Ks9JqEeR6B
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 23, 2022
An exciting prospect indeed. Two maestros of the game with a total of 42 grand slams between them sharing the court together at an ATP tour event for one last time. It had all started back in Miami 2004. Nadal, who was yet to win his first grand slam back then, one-upped the defending Wimbledon and Australian Open champion with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win. A meeting that would snowball into nine grand slam finals, a rivalry across two decades. The two acted as necessities for each other on the road to 20 grand slams. Pushing one another the extra mile to become better versions of themselves, as two great rivals would.
Traditionalists of the game have never shied away from putting on the table how different the two players are. Their styles could not have been more varied than left and right, literally and metaphorically. But as the years would pass, the similarities were more noticeable for the duo than the differences.
“On court we have completely opposite styles…but in family, personal life, probably we approach life not in a very different way no?”, the Spaniard said sitting next to his Swiss partner on the court in the presser after Friday’s match. “So that’s why we can trust each other, we can speak very often and we are able to speak very freely, feeling confident.”
“I don’t know how we got to this place over all these years. We have been very connected, especially the last 10 years, I’d say,” Federer would say.
Nadal standing on the same side of the court as Federer, donning a white bandana, in the latter’s last professional match was poetically indicative of how their relationship had developed since that first meeting at opposite ends in 2004.
rahul.pandey@indianexpress.com