Roger Federer loses the Laver Cup, leaving tennis with a broken heart
In the wee hours of Saturday, Roger Federer lost agonizing doubles match against longtime rival Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup, ending his extraordinary career. The 20-time Grand Slam winner, who has been sidelined by a knee ailment since the Wimbledon quarterfinals of 2021, announced his retirement last week at the age of 41. But he reversed time in London, the site of many of his most illustrious victories at Wimbledon, much to the glee of a fervent, partisan audience.
At the O2 stadium, Team World’s Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock defeated Federer and Nadal—the duo that tennis fans across the world had been waiting to see—4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 11-9.
As a result, Team Europe and Team World were tied at 2-2 at the conclusion of the first day of the Ryder Cup-style competition when Andy Murray lost against Alex de Minaur of Australia.
Federer stated through tears, “We’ll find a way to get through this. What a fantastic day. I assured the boys that I am not depressed.”
Being here feels wonderful. Everything was the final time, and I relished tying my shoelaces once more. Even though I worried that something would go wrong, like a calf, I didn’t feel the worry as much because the match was fantastic.
Thank you for the opportunity to play with Rafa and with all the legends present.
Together, they have won 42 Grand Slam singles championships during the heyday of the men’s game, and Federer and Spain’s Nadal have had a long-running rivalry.
The first meeting in 2004, the duo played 40 times, including nine Grand Slam finals, with Nadal coming out on top 24-16.
To give Federer, who went professional over 25 years ago, an appropriate sendoff, they were on the same side of the net on Friday.
The Swiss great and Nadal entered the pitch-black court wearing white headbands and blue jerseys, to a thunderous scream and standing ovation.
Roger Federer loses the Laver Cup, leaving tennis with a broken heart
Let’s Go, Roger! chants broke out at 3-3 as both teams held serve fairly comfortably to start the match.
However, Federer and Nadal took advantage of their first break point in the tenth game to take the opening set when Sock missed a backhand to thunderous applause.
When Nadal was broken in the third game of the second set, the two superstars were stunned, but they eventually tied the score at 3-3.
Team World easily won the tie-break in the second set to force a match tie-break.
In a nail-biting shootout, Federer hit a classic cross-court winner to tie the score at 7-7, but a Tiafoe shot wounded him in the arm on the following point.
At 9-8, Federer and Nadal had a chance to win the match, but they were unable to do so since their opponents won the next three points.
The other two players from the so-called “Big Four,” who dominated the men’s game for so many years, are Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who make up the six-person Team Europe.
Federer chose not to play singles matches this weekend, therefore Matteo Berrettini of Italy will step in as his backup.
Casper Ruud of Norway and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece each earned victories in the opening round of the Laver Cup, which Europe had won all four times before.
Tsitsipas defeated Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-2, 6-1 despite a spectacular on-court protest by a protester who set his arm on fire.
After the water was applied to the protester’s burnt arm, who was sporting a T-shirt that stated “End UK Private Jets,” he was swiftly removed from the court.
Before all eyes shifted to Federer in the evening session, Murray lost a grueling match to De Minaur 5-7, 6-3, 10-7.
19 years after winning his first Grand Slam championship at Wimbledon in 2003, the Swiss performer is retiring from the stage.
With eight Wimbledon wins, 103 titles overall, and more than $130 million in prize money alone won with a game distinguished by exceptional elegance and precision, he retires with the men’s record.
Although the number of Grand Slam championships held by Nadal (22) and Djokovic (21) has eclipsed Federer’s total, Team World captain John McEnroe claimed Federer’s retirement would leave “a hole that will never be replaced”.
I’ve done this thousands of times, but this one feels different. Thank you to everybody who’s coming tonight. pic.twitter.com/lmPWTNzjbn
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) September 23, 2022
