Un thrilling match, knowing smiles with Rafael Nadal, his doubles partner, but also tears after the match point that ended 25 years of an admirable career, Roger Federer said goodbye to tennis, in London, overnight from Friday to Saturday. With 103 titles on the ATP Tour, including 20 grand slams, 310 weeks at the top of the rankings, including 237 in a row during his longest reign, King Federer’s footprint on tennis is nowhere near fade away.
A huge thrill ran through the O2 Arena and its approximately 17,000 spectators when he last entered a court as a professional tennis player. It was to applause and tears, his own, those of his family, friends and admirers, that he left. “These are the faces and the emotion that I will remember” in several years, thinking of this evening, moreover confided the Swiss after the match.
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In trouble with his right knee for too long and faced with the lack of sufficient progress revealed by a scanner a few weeks ago, he ended up announcing his irrevocable departure eight days ago. He had chosen the Laver Cup, a team match between Europe and the Rest of the World, which he had helped to create, in London, a city that had witnessed some of his greatest exploits at Wimbledon or the Masters, to draw his reverence. I thought about doing it a month ago, but I just thought, if I had to do it, it was here,” he explained.
McEnroe to Ruud
After almost a year and a half without playing, he was “satisfied” with a double, an exercise in which his quality of service, his touch and his eye still work wonders. It also allowed him to surround himself with a team, and what a team! He had by his side Nadal, his one-night partner, but also Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, two players of his generation and whom he saw progressing until they challenged his superiority and even overtook him, as well as the next generation, embodied by Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini, who will replace him for the rest of the Laver Cup. The presence on the bench of Björn Borg, as captain, as well as those of John McEnroe on that of the Rest of the World and of Rod Laver, the first player to have twice won the four Grand Slams in a calendar year and to whom the competition makes tribute, did not look out of place in this tennis celebration.
The formula of the Laver Cup, which allows the whole team to approach players at side changes to provide advice or encouragement, created a very friendly atmosphere. And if the match itself sometimes looked like an exhibition, not playing it thoroughly would almost have been a crime of lèse-majesté. Despite some limitations, Federer responded. It was on a winning forehand volley that he offered his team the first set ball, won on one of his passings that Sock was unable to return (6-4), to the delight of the public. . “Honestly, I was surprised that I could play so well tonight, and I just enjoyed it. It was great from start to finish,” he said.
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The second set, lost in the tie-break (7-2), offered a dramatic epilogue with an intense crossover during the super final tie-break. Federer even served for the match at 9-8, but in the end it was the Americans who spoiled the party a bit by winning 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 11-9. Considering the incredible career and the importance he will have had in the evolution of this sport in the XXIe century, this defeat will be an adventure and he himself said he was ready for his new life which began in the London night. “The part that scared me the most was talking on the microphone […], because I know how impossible I become when I get too emotional,” he confessed. But I managed to keep in mind […] how wonderful the day had been, that it wasn’t the end, may life go on, I’m healthy, happy, everything is fine, it’s just a moment in my life, “he said. he added, modestly, in the face of a historic day for tennis and even the sport.