Revealed on 24 Sep 2022 3:37 pm (UK Time)
On Friday night, Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer and long-time rival Rafael Nadal joined forces in an epic Laver Cup doubles match which lasted till the early hours of Saturday morning. The emotional match was dubbed as Roger Federer’s ‘last dance’ after the 20-time Grand Slam champion introduced his retirement plans after the US Open final week.
The star-studded duo who’ve a mixed whole of 42 Grand Slam singles titles, united to signify Workforce Europe within the first doubles fixture of the Laver Cup event. Federer and Nadal or ‘Fedal’ as extra generally identified by followers, broke down in tears after shedding to Workforce World’s Frances Tiafoe (USA) and Jack Sock (USA) in what was the Swiss-maestro’s final ever skilled tennis match.
After greater than two hours of thrilling tennis, Workforce World and Workforce Europe have been at one set a chunk. Regardless of Workforce Europe having a match level, Workforce World clawed again and gained the match-deciding tiebreak to assert two units to at least one victory (4-6, 7-62, 11-9). The win was vital for Workforce World because it introduced the general Laver Cup crew rating to 2-2 after Stefanos Tsitsipas (Europe), Casper Ruud (Europe) and Alex de Minaur (World) all picked up factors of their singles matches.
As soon as the match was over, there was an absence of the same old over-the-top celebrations from Workforce World. Instead, Sock and Tiafoe shortly approached the online to hug their rival and hero Roger Federer. Sock later posted on social media, calling Federer his “idol and role model for both the game of tennis and myself”.
After the match, Roger Federer obtained huge applause from the O2 Enviornment crowd and after an emotional farewell speech, the tennis nice was lowered to tears. His teammate Nadal was additionally noticed combating again tears in what was a memorable second for tennis {and professional} sport.
Federer: “This city has been special to me”
The Laver Cup is a three-day Ryder Cup-style occasion that pits high tennis gamers from Workforce World towards gamers from Workforce Europe in quite a lot of singles and doubles matches. Though named after the good Rod Laver, the Laver Cup was actually the brainchild of Federer. This made it the proper occasion for the so-called ‘greatest of all time’ to play his final skilled match.
Roger additionally felt that London was the proper metropolis to say his goodbyes given its connection to tennis. Fed acknowledged: “This metropolis has been particular to me, possibly essentially the most particular place with Wimbledon down the street and right here on the O2, having performed right here and certified for thus a few years“.
The Laver Cup will proceed till Sunday with loads extra blockbuster matches scheduled, together with Matteo Berrettini vs Felix Auger-Aliassime and Novak Djokovic vs Frances Tiafoe. Workforce Europe will look to safe their fifth consecutive Laver Cup win and defend their title which was gained in Boston final 12 months after defeating Workforce World by a whopping 13-1. Workforce World then again is hoping to finish their Laver Cup drought.
