In Monfils’s opening service game, an exaggerated shimmy of the hips as he dodged a stray ball drew a ripple of laughter from the audience. Having held, he engaged in some light-hearted banter, first with his team-mates, then with nearby spectators. Before long, Monfils was mischievously enquiring of the chair umpire whether it was “home” officiating”, then sitting down beside a linesman in mock disbelief after successfully challenging a call for the second time in the space of a few minutes. 

It is not difficult to see why Monfils is so widely loved by the paying public. At 37, the former US Open semi-finalist’s rubber-limbed body is less compliant than it once was, but his persona and his shot-making remain as beguiling as ever. The Laver Cup is many things but, unless you fancy being stuck up in the gods, cheap is not one of them; a decent seat for the opening day in Vancouver would have set you back up to $630. Yet, as Monfils went about his business with his customary sense of showmanship, few in the audience could have felt short-changed. 

The one person not laughing was Auger-Aliassime. And with five games gone, the Canadian world No 14 made his feelings known to Greg Allensworth, the chair umpire – in the process articulating a fundamental question about the nature of the event. 

“Is it a full-on exhibition or are you sticking to the ATP rules?” asked Auger-Aliassime. 

“It’s kind of, er, ATP rules,” replied Allensworth, apparently not entirely sure himself. 

“Are you telling me that’s normal?” demanded Auger-Aliassime. “He sits down for like 30 seconds? I mean, that’s a time violation warning, it’s not, ‘I’m going to talk to him.’ Because I can play games too.”

Allensworth might have retorted that the Laver Cup has never been “normal” – which, of course, is precisely its charm. Inspired by Rod Laver, the greatest champion of the 60s, captained by Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, two of the biggest stars of the 70s and early 80s, and founded by a modern grandee in Roger Federer, the competition is a monument to the sport’s heritage, a marriage of champions past, present and future. The sight of players who spend most of the year trying to beat seven bells out of each other casting aside their differences to exchange tactical advice and vociferous support never gets old.

Inevitably, though, a competition that marches to the beat of its own drum can hardly be seen as standard ATP fare. Unlike a normal tour event – or, indeed, the Ryder Cup, on which it is broadly based – participation in the Laver Cup is by invitation rather than ranking. The players are well rewarded for their involvement – again, unlike their golfing counterparts – while the use of a 10-point “Laver breaker” in lieu of a deciding set only heightens the sense that, even if it has been part of the ATP calendar since 2019, the tournament bears all the hallmarks of an exhibition.

In truth, this dualism has been embedded in the Laver Cup from the beginning. “Guys coming together, playing for the right reasons, and Rod Laver, and spending a cool week together, and trying our absolute best and just having a good time,” was how Federer characterised his vision for the competition before the inaugural edition in Prague in 2017. And in many ways the Laver Cup has fulfilled that remit, combining spirited battle with spirited camaraderie to forge a spectacle full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

But what happens when those twin imperatives clash? What happens when one player is out to have a good time and the other is determined to try his best? A meeting between Monfils, revelling in his first invitation to represent Team Europe, and Auger-Aliassime, desperate to get a disappointing season back on track and understandably eager to deliver a good performance before his home crowd, offered an opportunity to find out. And the answer wasn’t pretty. 

Unhappy about Auger-Aliassime’s remarks to Allensworth, Monfils twice confronted his opponent at the change of ends. “I’m playing, like, serious,” Auger-Aliassime told the Frenchman. As he later explained to his team-mates, Monfils regarded the event in a different light. “They called me, they told me, ‘Oh, the Laver Cup is so nice, you can be free,’” he said. “Me, I’m here to have fun.” At which, Auger-Aliassime seemed incredulous. “What have the people that brought him here told him?” wondered the 23-year-old out loud. “I just think it’s unfortunate for everyone involved.”

The latter point was undeniable, the remainder of an initially promising contest played out with the two men at opposite mental and emotional poles. While Monfils appeared to completely lose interest, Auger-Aliassime remained almost comically engaged, fist-pumping his way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory against an opponent who had long since thrown in the towel. 

Excuses can be made on both sides. Auger-Aliassime did what was necessary and will no doubt have been relieved to claim only his second win of a dismal summer. Monfils, meanwhile, appeared to have been mis-sold the concept. Yet neither man exactly covered himself in glory. Auger-Aliassime’s initial protest seemed disproportionate, and for all that he later explained he was simply trying to stand up for himself and not let his opponent “take too much ground”, it did feel rather as though the Canadian had parlayed a molehill into something rather more mountainous.

In mitigation, it can hardly have helped that McEnroe was talking of Monfils “hamming it up” as early as the second changeover, or that Frances Tiafoe was warning: “He’s going to be playing games with you all night.” Why pour fuel on a fire that had shown no obvious sign of starting? It was not as though Auger-Aliassime returned to his chair ranting and raving about his opponent’s tactics. Monfils had not been playing particularly slowly, as so many news reports subsequently suggested. The Frenchman’s impromptu sit-down lasted about half the 30 seconds claimed by Auger-Aliassime, and there were no other significant delays. Yet things escalated to the point where, by the end of the first set, Auger-Aliassime could be heard proclaiming: “Tanking in the Laver Cup is crazy,” which risked inflaming the situation further.  

Neither was it Monfils’s finest hour. His subsequent dismissal of the episode as a “trifle” rather ignored the fact that his team-mates were reduced to labouring in vain to persuade him to put a shift in. As the early games demonstrated, a more sustained and determined application of Monfils’s fleet-footed defence and virtuoso shot-making would have posed Auger-Aliassime plenty of problems. Instead, as Rublev sank to his knees imploring, “Gaël, please”, an initially competitive match became a procession. 

Uncompetitive Laver Cup matches are hardly a new phenomenon, of course. Two years ago, when Team Europe clinched a fourth straight victory with a 14-1 rout at Boston’s TD Garden, everyone wondered where the event was going. Team World’s 13-2 victory this year showed that question is as pertinent as ever. The identity of the winning team may have changed, but the underlying issue remains unresolved; plus ça change, as some in Vancouver might say.

ATP tournament or exhibition? This year, the Laver Cup was neither. The lopsided nature of the contest made it unrecognisable as a tour event, while the absence of the big four, compounded by the unavailability of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune, rendered it a shadow of the star vehicle of previous years. With Federer retired, and Nadal and Andy Murray likely to go the same way before long, the event needs bona fide champions if it is to live up to its extravagant billing. Instead, for the first time since the Laver Cup’s inception in 2017, neither team had a grand slam winner in its ranks. 

No wonder Federer expressed hope that Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz would turn out in Berlin next year. In the absence of the best two players in the world, the watching Swiss remained front and centre in Vancouver, just as he was during last year’s tearful farewell in London. Yet even a living legend like Federer can only do so much to compensate for a lack of competition. Ultimately, people pay to watch good tennis – be it an exhibition match or something more.

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“What I’m going to do next is I want to read a lot of what maybe [journalists] have written, and a lot of TV stuff,” said Federer. “I haven’t seen stuff that has been produced and put together for me.”

Much of what he encounters will be familiar enough. Federer’s stylistic elegance and the flowing grace of his movement have long encouraged a certain kind of analysis. When the Swiss won his first grand slam title at Wimbledon in 2003, the world’s press spoke with one voice, hailing him as a player with “an artist’s touch on a tennis court” (New York Times) who had “composed a masterpiece” (Washington Post). He was, by universal assent, a man able to use his racket “as a brush”, painting “pictures of a hue that few others can reproduce” (Guardian).

Portraits of the young man as an artist set a tone that was to alter little in the years ahead. Following Federer’s retirement announcement, he was described as “an art installation in human form” who “bequeathed a museum’s worth of masterpieces” (Telegraph), a “Nuryev in shorts” who belonged in a pantheon “alongside names such as Mozart and Joyce” (Times of London).

The qualities that have triggered this reflexive grasping for bombastic metaphor require little explanation. The bewitching aesthetics of Federer’s game are undeniable. At the same time, it was clearly not only Federer’s opponents who fell under his spell. In the early years of his career, he was routinely characterised as a talented underachiever (perhaps most memorably by Jon Wertheim, the Strokes of Genius author, who quipped of the Swiss in what he later described as a “snarky” ballad: “If you want to win a wager, Bet against me in a major”). But once Federer had a first grand slam title, observers felt able to wax lyrical with impunity. Almost overnight, his portrayal as an artist became the most overused motif in sports writing. 

Unsurprisingly, little has changed since. How could it? Federer was only 21 years old when he won the first of his eight Wimbledon crowns. Those who characterised him as a latter-day Leonardo da Vinci after just one grand slam victory had already set the bar as high as it could go. There was plenty of mileage left in the Federer story, but what superlatives would be left to chronicle the tale?

The answer, alas, was provided by the late American author David Foster Wallace, whose famous 2006 essay Federer Both Flesh and Not – first published in the New York Times as Roger Federer as Religious Experience – argued that Federer’s talents seemed to transcend the physical and mental laws governing mere mortals. 

Wallace contended that, just as Michael Jordan seemed to jump higher and hang in the air longer than gravity should allow, or Muhammad Ali could “float” across the ring and land a flurry of blows at preternatural speed, so Federer’s exceptional movement and coordination – his “occult anticipation”, court sense, mastery of spin and speed, and (more contentiously) ability to fashion the outcome of a point several shots in advance – enabled him to slow down time itself, giving him a split second longer to hit the ball than his rivals. You could anatomise Federer’s qualities as a player until you were blue in the face, said Wallace, but “none of it really explains anything or evokes the experience of watching this man play”. 

Wallace was alive to the dangers of this thesis. Describing how a bus driver had spoken of watching Federer as a “bloody near-religious experience”, the author acknowledged the temptation “to hear a phrase like this as just one more of the overheated tropes that people resort to” when confronted by those moments when the Swiss produces a moment of jaw-dropping brilliance. Yet he maintained that merely describing these “Federer moments” does scant justice to “the beauty and genius of his game”. “You more have to come at the aesthetic stuff obliquely, to talk around it,” argued Wallace, “to try to define it in terms of what it is not.”

Wallace, a gifted and influential writer, was taken at his word. Federer became “the physical manifestation of some Platonic ideal of truth, of beauty”, as William Skidelsky put it; a player who “sends the ball streaming to the opposite baseline like lightning from the fingertips of Zeus” (Washington Post), “like some classical Greek or Roman half-god/half-statesman (think Pericles, Cicero, Augustus)” (News & Observer). 

As Federer flicks through the paeans composed in his honour, a Swiss centime for his thoughts would be worth the investment. In a career spanning 24 years, Federer won 1,251 of his 1,526 professional matches. Not one of those opponents was beaten because his strokes looked pretty. If that were the case, image really would be everything, to borrow a phrase once beloved of Federer’s former clothing sponsor. But winning is a matter of substance, not style – and Federer, like all great champions, and for all his elan, was never averse to digging in, to finding a way, to doing what had to be done with whatever he had at his disposal on any given day. 

There was little by way of Platonic idealism about the way Federer fumbled and shanked his way to a five-set win over Colombia’s Alejandro Falla at Wimbledon in 2010, having trailed by two sets to love. There was plenty of defiance, though, plenty of stubbornness and courage and steely resolve. Just as there was when he survived match points against Gaël Monfils in the US Open quarter-finals of 2014, a feat of escapology he would repeat against Marin Cilic at Wimbledon two years later and, most remarkably of all, against Tennys Sandrgren in the Australian Open quarter-finals of 2020, when he stood within a point of defeat no fewer than seven times. 

That win over Sandgren – which came after a most ungodly 56 unforced errors, and a less-than-statesmanlike warning for an audible obscenity – marked one of 22 occasions on which Federer fought back from match point down. He also rebounded from two sets to love down 10 times, an open-era record he shares with Andy Murray, Boris Becker and Aaron Krickstein. 

These numbers rarely receive mention. Yet, without the grit and resilience on which they were built, the more familiar statistics – 103 titles including 20 majors, 237 consecutive weeks at No 1 – would look very different. Not least because Federer would never have completed the career grand slam, as he did at Roland Garros in 2009 after trailing Tommy Haas by two sets to love in the fourth round. Federer, who faced a third-set break point that day that would have left Haas serving for the match, has described the off-forehand he struck to avert catastrophe as the most important shot of his career. Yet it was no more prominent in the video montages composed in his honour than any of those 22 match points he survived. Brief and brutal, it lacked the required aesthetic allure.

Wallace must bear some responsibility in all this, for the more Federer was described in terms of what he was not, the further we drifted from an appreciation of what he was – and, crucially, what he eventually became. Yet Wallace died in September 2008, and did not witness Federer’s evolution as a player. He never saw the earthier qualities – the bloody-mindedness, the gumption, the ability to dig in – that underpinned Federer’s longevity. Nor did he witness the humility with which the Swiss acknowledged his inevitable physical decline, or the intelligence with which he addressed it by adding new dimensions to his game. The adoption of a more aggressive style, epitomised by the SABR (Sneak Attack by Roger), essentially a half-volley return of serve. The switch to a larger racket that added fresh potency to his service and topspin backhand. The addition to his team of Stefan Edberg, a past master of the attacking arts, and later of Ivan Ljubicic, who encouraged refinements to the blueprint laid down by the Swede. The late-career success these various changes yielded, most notably in the form of two more Australian Opens, another Wimbledon, and six wins from his final seven matches against his old rival Nadal.

We can only guess at what Wallace would have made of Federer’s reinvention, but it seems reasonable to suppose that his perception would have shifted to accommodate the more prosaic layers of Federer’s brilliance. What we are left with, however, is an eloquent but partial account of Federer at his peak. And that would be fine, were it not for the hugely influential nature of Wallace’s essay. The author took the idea of Federer as an artist to the nth degree, to the point where his words became a subliminal influence on almost everything that has been written and uttered about Federer since. Challenge any disciple of Federer on the idea that his gifts bear comparison with history’s greatest creative masters, press them hard enough, and eventually their case will fall back, directly or indirectly, on arguments articulated in their most persuasive form by Wallace. 

The difficulty in all this is that, if Federer is primarily viewed through the lens of a piece written in 2006, with limited knowledge of his career, then we keep him frozen in time. And if we only embrace that version of Federer, if we remember him purely as the guy who was almost unbeatable for three glorious seasons between 2004 and 2006, when he won three of the four majors for three years in a row, then we acknowledge only a fraction of his achievement. 

For if the first decade of Federer’s career was about the realisation of gifts that elevated him into a realm where only Nadal could initially follow, the second was about the realisation that even a slightly diminished version of that perfection was good enough to keep pace with the world’s best. But we have become stuck in that early period, appreciating the first phase of Federer’s journey without acknowledging the things he did to keep winning when the old magic no longer came quite so easily.

Asked about Wallace’s essay at Wimbledon in 2009, Federer described it as “fantastic”, adding that it was “completely different to what I’ve read in the past about me”. Thirteen years on, however, it is clear he would also like to be remembered for more than just his virtuosity. Federer has often spoken of his longevity as the achievement in which he takes most pride, and he reiterated this view at the Laver Cup, where he spoke of his place alongside other enduring greats like Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods as having “special meaning” to him. Tellingly, the 41-year-old also underlined how much his durability owed to the more warrior-like qualities that those in thrall to his artistry, often eager to downplay any similarities with Nadal, have deliberately tended to underemphasise.         

“People won’t talk about that, [but] that’s fun,” said Federer. “They will talk about the other things, which I’m very happy and very proud of as well. But you need everything, especially grit and fight and all that toughness to come through and stay at the top for as long as I did.  I think it’s logical. It’s not gifted or handed to you just to have that. 

“For some of the players, it’s maybe easier to have that. It’s like more ingrained in their DNA. I feel like I had to go and find it and take care of it, which maybe is harder in my position. Me, I was more lucky to [be] gifted with racket head speed or that stuff. So, yes, I’m proud of how far I have come, because I know that this was something I really struggled with early on. 

“I was criticised a lot, heavily maybe sometimes even, fairly or unfairly, whatever it is, why wouldn’t I fight more when losing? Because they thought [that], when I lost, I didn’t give it all I had, even though I care probably more than most players. So I didn’t quite understand what that meant. Do I have to grunt, do I have to sweat more, shout more, be more aggressive towards my opponents? What is it? It’s not me. I’m not like that. That’s not my personality.”

This inability to see the real Federer owed much to the way he made everything look effortless, an illusion at odds with the more warrior-like physical and mental attributes that kept him at the top of the game for so long. It was often said Federer did not break sweat, a legend that should be treated about as seriously as claims that Bjorn Borg had a resting heart rate of 35 beats a minute. The Swiss played a combined total of 1,749 singles and doubles matches without ever retiring injured, something no professional player achieves without putting in the hard yards to build a body fit for purpose. 

For all the hyperbole, Federer’s career was not simply a prolonged exhibition of silken skills and untrammelled excellence. The beauty of his strokes was the product of endless endeavour on the practice court. If he seemed to float, it was down to the countless hours he devoted to his fitness and movement patterns with Pierre Paganini, the cerebral Swiss conditioning coach with whom he worked for 22 years. 

“I think we underestimate all the work Roger does, and it’s a beautiful problem he has,” Paganini once said. “We underestimate it because when we see Roger play, we see the artist who expresses himself. We forget almost that he has to work to get there, like watching the ballet dancer: you see the beauty, but you forget the work behind it. You have to work very, very hard to be that beautiful a dancer.”

Glimpses of that diligence were rare, but one came during a fourth-round win over Roberto Bautista Agut at Wimbledon in 2015. As his opponent received treatment on an ankle injury, Federer kept himself limber by bouncing on the spot for a few seconds and performing some hip flexor stretches. With any other player, the moment would barely have registered; with Federer, the effect was almost startling. Not because one imagined he had no truck with such mundanities, but because it offered a rare gesture towards the graft behind the grace. This too was a “Federer moment”, albeit one of a very different nature to those described by Wallace and his emulators. 

Perhaps, then, Wallace’s disquisition has a wider and more enduring resonance after all. For Federer never stopped leaving us slack-jawed. It was simply that, over the years, the nature of our admiration shifted. We continued to marvel at the beauty of his game and the magnitude of his achievements – of course we did – but, as the prodigy became a man, Federer gave us reasons to appreciate him beyond the court. With his respect for his rivals. His philanthropy. His sportsmanship and dedication to his family. His obvious love for the game, which made him such an outstanding ambassador. And, above all perhaps, the humility that characterised the second half of his career.

The last of these qualities was laid painfully bare in the immediate aftermath of his Laver Cup swansong – particularly when, no longer able to find words, he thanked the crowd for the umpteenth time and performed a kind of awkward quarter-bow. In that instant, hands clasped in front of him, tears flowing freely, no longer the racket-wielding colossus of old, Federer offered an abiding image of his diffidence and humanity.

It was a Federer moment as compelling as any. 

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A new world order is emerging, one in which youth makes no apology for upsetting the apple cart – and never mind how many grand slam trophies it may contain. 

No one at the Laver Cup has embodied that spirit more vibrantly than Frances Tiafoe, the magnetic 24-year-old American who partnered his compatriot Jack Sock to victory over Federer and Nadal on Friday night.

Teed up beautifully by his team-mate Felix Auger-Aliassime, who earlier upset Djokovic in straight sets to put Team World on the cusp of victory, Tiafoe saved four match points en route to a dramatic 1-6, 7-6 (11), 10-8 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, sealing a momentous 13-8 win for his team.

If it was a disappointing outcome for Federer and company, the ebullient Tiafoe was not about to apologise – least of all for his role in derailing the Swiss legend’s retirement party.

“Absolutely not,” said Tiafoe. “I want to see him lit, but I’m not going to apologise to him. He’s got a lot to apologise [for] after the last 24 years, after beating everybody on the tour.  

“No, I won’t apologise, but I will say thank you for having me in this amazing event [and] also say thank you for what he did for the game. He’s a class act. Happy to know him, happy to call him friend, happy to call him a colleague, and best wishes in his second act. But I will not apologise.” 

McEnroe’s men began the afternoon trailing their European counterparts 8-4, but with each win worth three points on the final day, they acquired an unstoppable momentum once Auger-Aliassime had partnered Jack Sock to a 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over Murray and Matteo Berrettini in the opening match. 

Tiafoe’s victory was all the more impressive for the manner in which he turned things around after a blistering start by Tsitsipas. The Greek world No 6 initially picked up from where he left off on the opening day, when he blitzed Diego Schwartzman for the loss of just three games. But Tiafoe, roared on by his team-mates, was the more courageous player down the stretch, punishing the frequently questionable shot selection of Tsitsipas – who seemed determined to draw the American forward with short sliced backhands rather than driving through the ball – as he fought like his life depended on it.  

“There was a great team spirit, so we were battling from the beginning,” said McEnroe, who was dancing with joy by the end. “I think we felt that it is the big four, but obviously the circumstances are a little different than they could have been 10 years ago, five years ago.  We knew we had a shot at it, but it was an uphill battle.”

Circumstances are indeed different. Federer, his race finally run, was reduced to the role of cheerleader-cum-super coach, dispensing pearls of wisdom at the changeovers (“I know you like to play fast, but not now,” he implored Tsitsipas during the critical second-set tiebreak) while occasionally looking as though he wanted to tear out his immaculately coiffured hair. Nadal curtailed his involvement after his old rival’s emotional sendoff on the the opening night, returning to his home in Mallorca, where his wife is expecting their first child. Murray, who has been competing with a metal hip for the past three years, struggled to hit the high notes on a slow, gritty hard court that was never likely to bring out the best in his game.

That left Djokovic to shoulder the hopes of Team Europe, a task that looked well within his capabilities after the heroics of Saturday, when he returned to the match court after an absence of more than two months to demolish Tiafoe 6-1, 6-3 before partnering Matteo Berrettini to a 7-5, 6-2 over Alex de Minaur and Sock. Yet even the Serb has his limits, and having not played since beating Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon final, it was little wonder that he appeared hampered by a sore wrist against Auger-Aliassime, whose near-flawless performance would have presented a stern challenge at the best of times.  

The first half of 2022 may have belonged to the old guard, with Nadal winning the Australian and French Opens, and Djokovic claiming a seventh Wimbledon title, but the past month has been about the rise of a new generation of challengers. 

Carlos Alcaraz, 19, ushered in a fresh dawn at the US Open, becoming the first teenager to win a major title since Nadal in 2005 and the youngest world No 1 in history. Now Auger-Aliassime and Tiafoe – himself a semi-finalist in New York, where he pushed Alcaraz all the way in a five-set epic – have picked up the baton. 

“To do it here in Laver Cup, win for the first time, how bad Mac wanted it, how bad everybody else wanted it – seeing what Felix did, and Jack – I thought it was just time,” said Tiafoe. “It was time to get it done.”

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To Wimbledon in 2003, when the Swiss was overwhelmed in similar fashion, tearfully addressing the Centre Court after the first of his 20 grand slam triumphs. To Melbourne in 2009, when he was unable to disguise his devastation after losing a third straight major final to Rafael Nadal. To Paris five months later, when he wept joyfully on completing the career grand slam at Roland Garros. 

Victory and defeat. Triumph and disaster. Kipling’s two great impostors treated just the same. If Federer’s past told us anything, it was that any attempt to keep his emotions in check would prove fruitless – and that we, inevitably, would be taken with him. It is part of what has made him so easily relatable for all these years: the knowledge that, for all his ethereal talent, he is, at heart, as human as the rest of us. 

The whimpering enquiry the Swiss made of Jim Courier as he began the emotional courtside interview that followed the final match of his career – “We’ll get through this somehow, will we? Right?” – cast the mind back to Centre Court 19 years ago, when Federer displayed similar vulnerability before Sue Barker. 

As he reflected on his journey since – from “a boy playing tennis, then a junior champion, then a world champion, then a sporting icon,” as Courier eloquently put it – Federer seemed almost unchanged from his 21-year-old self. Even his words were similar. “This is great,” Federer told Barker as he dissolved into tears almost two decades ago; “It’s been great, it’s been so much fun,” he told Courier on Friday night, adding that he had never dreamed he would scale such heights.

“It was never supposed to be that way. I was just happy to play tennis and spend time with my friends, really. It’s been a perfect journey, I would do it all over again.”

Even Rafael Nadal, a man not readily given to public displays of sentiment, was reduced to emotional rubble. The sight of the two great champions sitting at courtside afterwards, hand in hand and bawling their eyeballs out – surely Ellie Goulding’s vocal performance wasn’t that bad? – instantly became one of the game’s most poignant and unforgettable images. 

In years to come, few will remember that Nadal had just partnered Federer to a 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 11-9 doubles defeat against Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at the Laver Cup. For once, the outcome was almost immaterial, as Federer later acknowledged.

“The match in itself, sure, is special, but it’s really everything that happened after, because I wasn’t aware who was going to come to sing, what was going to happen, where I should go, what was expected of me, or how long it was going to go [on]. 

“Then I guess looking around, and seeing how everybody got emotional, obviously it’s even better – or even worse, I’m not sure what to say. That’s what I will remember, is the faces I saw emotional. Rafa was one of them.”

It was indicative of the intensity of the occasion that even Nadal, the champion of a men’s record 22 majors, struggled to cast aside the enormity of it all. For 18 years, ever since they first locked horns in Miami in 2004, the Spaniard has vied with Federer on the game’s grandest stages; now, at the end, the pair were united not only as doubles partners but also by the sense of a shared loss, one that will be felt across the sport.

“The first couple of serves for me were super difficult,” said Nadal. “I was not able to do the normal movement. I started with a double fault. I was shaking a little bit. [It has] been a difficult day to handle every single thing, and at the end everything became super emotional.  

“For me, it [has been] a huge honour to be a part of this amazing moment in the history of our sport, and at the same time a lot of years sharing a lot of things together.  

“When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too, because of all the moments that he has been next [to me] or in front me in important moments of my life.”

Federer said he had worried for weeks beforehand about addressing the crowd afterwards, and his gratitude to Courier was as plain as his appreciation for his team-mates, among whom were old foes Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. 

“This is the part I was extremely worried about, taking the microphone,” said Federer. “All I told Tony [Godsick, his long-time agent] was I want to be able to have an evening where I do not have to take the mic. 

“I know how impossible I am on the mic when I am emotional, because I had it many times before. But I was able to remind myself always on the court again how wonderful this is. This is not the end-end, you know, life goes on. I’m healthy, I’m happy, everything’s great, and this is just a moment in time.”

It was a moment that few will forget.

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To nobody’s great surprise, the schedule for the opening day’s play at the O2 Arena brought confirmation that the pair would rekindle a partnership first unveiled at the Ryder Cup-style event in Prague five years ago. 

Federer and Nadal, representing Team Europe, will take on the all-American Team World pairing of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.

“I’m not sure if I can handle it all,” said Federer, contemplating what promises to be a momentous, emotionally charged evening following last week’s announcement that he will retire at the annual event he established five years ago. 

“I’ll try. I have had some tougher moments as well in the past, being horribly nervous all these years sometimes before matches. This one definitely feels a whole lot different.

“Of course, it’s super special playing with Rafa. Feels really different, you know. Also, just walking out on court and having the chance to play with the likes of Rafa or Novak [Djokovic] in the past has been an amazing experience for me. So to be able to do that one more time, I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful.

“Like I said, I will try my very best. I hope to be good out there, and of course I will enjoy it, but it will be hard.”

Though Federer’s ailing knees have ruled him out of singles contention in London, it is hard to imagine a more fitting send-off for the 41-year-old. His rivalry with Nadal, which began in Miami in 2004 and reached its apotheosis in 2008, when the pair contested an epic Wimbledon final that is widely regarded as one of the greatest matches of all time, has had a defining influence on the careers of both men.

Nadal, who won 24 of their 40 meetings despite a late-career burst from Federer that earned the Swiss victory in six of their last seven meetings – most notably the Australian Open final of 2017, when both men were returning from extended injury layoffs – struck a similarly upbeat note as Team Europe faced the press in London on Thursday. 

“After all the amazing things that we shared together on and off court, to be part of this historic moment is going to be something amazing, unforgettable for me,” said Nadal. “[I’m] super excited. I hope I can have a good chance to play at a decent level, and hopefully together we can create a good moment and maybe win a match.

“Having Roger next to me one more time will be something that I am very [much] looking forward [to]. Just very happy for that.”

Asked what memories of his rivalry with Federer he would most cherish, Nadal said the enduring cordiality of their off-court relationship outweighed the significance of their meetings between the lines. The Spaniard emphasised the wider significance of Federer’s place in the sport’s pantheon, but admitted the Swiss had perhaps been the most important figure in his own career, adding that it would be “difficult” to bid farewell to the 20-time grand slam champion.

“I think the memories that Roger brings to the sport, in my personal way, they are not only in matches against me,” said Nadal. “

“I saw him playing comfortably before I arrived on tour. I saw him having success on TV, and then [we were] able to create an amazing rivalry together.

“On the other hand, something that probably we are [both] very proud [of], it has been a friendly rivalry. Not easy, sometimes, because we are playing for such an important things for our tennis career, but at the same time we were able to understand that, at the end, personal relationships are more important than professional things sometimes. We were able to handle it, I think, the proper way.

“Tomorrow is going to be a special thing. I think very difficult. Gonna be difficult to handle everything, especially for Roger, without a doubt. For me too. You know, at the end one of the most important players, if not most important player in my tennis career, is leaving, no? At the end, [to] live this moment will be difficult. I am super excited and grateful to play with him.”

The post Federer to play final match alongside Nadal appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Federer, the winner of 20 grand slam singles titles, revealed in a press conference in London that he will play his final match at the Laver Cup on Friday alongside a yet-to-be-named doubles partner and with Bjorn Borg, the Team Europe captain, sitting at courtside. 

It is perhaps not the way a player of Federer’s singular gifts would have imagined bowing out, but the Swiss has long known there would be no fairytale ending in the manner of Pete Sampras, the great American against whom he announced his arrival at Wimbledon in 2001, who marked his final appearance with victory in the US Open final. Having “stopped believing” that he could come back after undergoing surgery on his right knee for the third time in 18 months after Wimbledon last summer, the 41-year-old said he would not have it any other way.

“I just thought it was very fitting,” said Federer. “Having Bjorn Borg on the bench with me for my final game resonated in a big way with me. Having all the other guys around just felt like I was not going to be lonely announcing my retirement. 

“I always feel sorry for players who retire on the tour [and] say, ‘I’m going to play one more match,’ then at one point you lose and there you stand, all alone. Obviously, 99% of the time you will lose at one point, because only one guy wins the tournament. I just felt like this works very well here.”

Federer said he had contemplated announcing his retirement before the US Open, but wanted to be present when the moment came and had, in any case, been beaten to the punch by Serena Williams, who announced her own farewell in the build-up to the season’s final slam. Instead, he revealed that his time was up in an announcement on social media last week.

Unlike Williams, who rode a tide of emotion to the third round at Flushing Meadows before falling to Ajla Tomljanovic, Federer will occupy a shared stage in his final match. It is normally a requirement of the Ryder Cup-style competition that only players participating in the singles can feature in doubles. Yet no one was about to deny the Swiss the chance to go out on his own terms at an event that owes its very existence to him. Ever respectful of the game, he nonetheless sought permission from Borg, Team World captain John McEnroe and the ATP to limit his involvement to Friday night’s doubles rubber.

“Of course, this is an ATP event that I don’t want to mess with,” said Federer. “But at the same time, I know my limitations.  

“So here I am trying to prepare for one last doubles, and we’ll see with who it is. I’m obviously nervous going in, because I haven’t played in so long. I hope I can be somewhat competitive.”

The focus will now shift to who will partner Federer, although it would be something of a surprise if it were anyone other than Rafael Nadal. Asked if the prospect of rekindling his 2019 Laver Cup partnership with his great rival would appeal, the Swiss did little to play down the idea.

“Of course, no doubt,” said Federer. “I think it could be quite a unique situation if it were to happen. For as long as we battled together, having always this respect for one another, the families, our coaching teams, we always got along really well. 

“For us as well to go through a career that we both have had, and to come out on the other side and being able to have a nice relationship, I think is maybe a great message as well to not just tennis, but sports and maybe even beyond. 

“For that reason, I think it would be great. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I think it could be obviously a special moment.”

Federer eclipsed Sampras’s then-record tally of 14 majors with his 2009 victory over Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, and went on to win five more slams. Nadal and Novak Djokovic have since overtaken him, respectively winning 22 and 21 titles, but Federer – who won 103 titles in all, and spent a record 237 consecutive weeks at world No 1 – said he was content with his place in the pantheon.

“I’m definitely very proud and very happy where I sit,” he said. “One of my big moments, of course, was winning my 15th slam at Wimbledon, when Pete [Sampras] was sitting there. Anything after that was a bonus. 

“That was the record, you know, and then of course it was other records along the way. But nowadays, I think, and it will only increase, players will want to chase records. It’s true at some point I kind of probably did as well, but not the first years until I got closer to Pete’s record.  

“For me, it was about how did I manage my schedule, was I happy on and off the court, did I like my life on the tour? And I did. I think I had the best of times.”

The post Federer to bow out in Laver Cup doubles appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Start quiz

Who did Roger Federer defeat to win his first grand slam title at Wimbledon in 2003?

Lleyton Hewitt

Mark Philippoussis

Andy Roddick

Andre Agassi

Federer won junior Wimbledon as a 16-year-old. In what year?

1997

1999

2000

1998

In which Swiss city was Federer born?

Geneva

Basel

Lucerne

Zurich

Which future Wimbledon finalist defeated Federer in the 1998 US Open junior final?

Goran Ivanisevic

David Nalbandian

Lleyton Hewitt

Andy Roddick

Of the 16 grand slam finals contested between 2004 and 2008, how many featured Federer?

14

12

13

11

How many times has Federer won the World Laureus Sportsman of the Year award?

Nine

Three

Seven

Five

When did Federer first attain the world No 1 ranking?

August 2004

March 2005

September 2003

February 2004

At what tournament did Federer make his professional debut in 1998?

Marseille Open

Swiss Open, Gstaad

Geneva Open

Swiss Indoors, Basel

Who did Federer defeat to win his fifth and final US Open?

Marin Cilic

Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray

Rafael Nadal

Which of the following statements is untrue?

Federer has a street named in his honour in Biel, home to the Swiss national tennis centre.

Federer has an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.

Astronomers renamed an asteroid after Federer in 2008.

Federer is the first living person to be celebrated on a Swiss coin.

Where did Federer win his first professional title?

Sydney

Milan

Hamburg

Vienna

In total, how many French Open finals has Federer reached?

Five

Seven

Four

Six

How many match points did Federer hold during his 2019 Wimbledon final defeat to Novak Djokovic?

One

Three

Four

Two

Where did Federer win his 20th and final grand slam title?

Wimbledon

Australian Open

French Open

US Open

Who defeated Federer in the quarter-finals of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?

Yves Allegro

James Blake

Tomas Berdych

Andy Murray

Roger Federer quiz

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The post How much do you know about Federer? – quiz appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

“Dear Roger, my friend and rival,” Nadal wrote on Twitter. “I wish this day would have never come. It’s a sad day for me personally and for sports around the world. It’s been a pleasure but also an honour and privilege to share all these years with you, living so many amazing moments on and off the court.”

Over the course of nearly a quarter of a century in the game, Federer has locked horns with countless champions, from Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt in the early years, through the “big four” era that included Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, to more recent challengers like Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. None defined Federer like Nadal, the musclebound Spanish matador to his cultured Swiss maestro, the yin to his yang, yet always the most respected – and respectful – of rivals. 

When Nadal opened his academy in Majorca in 2016, Federer attended the launch. When Federer staged a charity match in Cape Town to raise funds for his foundation, it was Nadal he called – just as he did in the inaugural year of the Laver Cup, the Ryder Cup-style event that will form part of his legacy to the sport. Their careers have been entwined so deeply, and for so long, that no consideration of one could ever be complete without mention of the other. 

In their pomp, Federer and Nadal would convene annually on the clay of Roland Garros and the lawns of Wimbledon, waging an extended battle for supremacy that reached its apogee at the All England Club in 2008. That Wimbledon final, won by Nadal in five sets, is widely regarded as one of the greatest matches of all time. When the Spaniard defeated Federer again six months later to claim his first Australian Open title, memorably comforting the Swiss as he broke down in tears during the trophy ceremony, it looked for all the world as though Nadal had his number. 

Few would have imagined then that they would meet again eight years later on the same court, where Federer would recover from a break down in the final set to seal the fifth of his six triumphs in Melbourne. Federer would go on to win all but one of their last six meetings, the series eventually 24-16 in Nadal’s favour, yet it is a rivalry that will live on without end in the mind’s eye – and, one can only hope, in many a future exhibition match. For now, there will be one final tour-level reunion at the Laver Cup in London next week. 

“We will have many more moments to share together in the future, there are still lots of things to do together, we know that,” wrote Nadal. “For now, I truly wish you all the happiness with your wife, Mirka, your kids, your family and enjoy what’s ahead of you. I’ll see you in London.”

While Federer’s jousts with Nadal will remain the most significant of his tennis life, the most prolific of his big-four rivalries was with Djokovic, winner of 27 of their 50 meetings and of four of the five major finals they contested. In a statement posted on his Instagram account, the Serb, who defeated Federer in three Wimbledon finals, praised the 41-year-old for his “integrity and poise”.

“Roger it’s hard to see this day and put into words all that we’ve shared in this sport together,” wrote Djokovic, who will also be involved at the Laver Cup as part of Team Europe. “Over a decade of incredible moments and battles to think back on. Your career has set the tone for what it means to achieve excellence and lead with integrity and poise. 

“It’s an honour to know you on and off court, and for many more years to come. I know that this new chapter will hold amazing things for you, Mirka, the kids, all your loved ones, and Roger fans still have a lot to look forward to. From our family to yours, we wish you much joy, health, and prosperity in the future. Looking forward to celebrating your achievements and seeing you in London.”

The big-four tributes were completed by Murray, whose 14 defeats in 25 matches against Federer included finals at the US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon. 

“He was an amazing player,” said Murray, speaking after Great Britain’s 2-1 Davis Cup defeat against the Netherlands. “I was lucky to get to compete against him in some of the biggest matches, in the biggest tournaments, on the biggest stages in our sport. 

“At the time I probably didn’t appreciate it as much, but now, looking back, it’s pretty amazing. It’s incredible what he achieved, and also what Rafa and Novak have done. It’s a sad, sad day for the sport. Unbelievable career.”

What others said: tennis pays tribute to Federer

“A champion’s champion”: Billie Jean King, former world No 1 and winner of 39 major titles.

“Tennis will never be the same”: Stan Wawrinka, Swiss Davis Cup team-mate, winner of two majors.

“I love you, Roger”: Juan Martín del Potro, 2009 US Open champion, former world No 3.

“Thanks for the shared memories my friend”: Andy Roddick, former world No 1, US Open champion 2003.

“You will remain Fed forever”: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, former world No 5 and Australian Open finalist.

“Thank you for all the magic”: Martina Navratilova, former world No 1 and 18-time grand slam champion.

“The epitome of a champion”: Chris Evert, former world No 1 and 18-time grand slam champion.

“Humbled to play in the same era”: Sergiy Stakhovsky, former world No 31 who ended Federer’s run of 36 grand slam quarter-finals in the third round of Wimbledon in 2013.

“You inspired countless millions”: Serena Williams, former world No 1 and 23-time grand slam champion.

“One of my idols”: Carlos Alcaraz, world No 1 and reigning US Open champion.

The post Nadal leads fellow big-four tributes to Federer appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Federer, whose stellar career has spanned almost a quarter of a century, has not played since last summer, when he lost to Hubert Hurkacz in the Wimbledon quarter-finals shortly before undergoing surgery on his right knee for the third time in 18 months. 

Few champions have proved more enduring – Federer was 36, the oldest grand slam champion since Ken Rosewall in 1972, when he won his last major at the Australian Open in 2018 – but, as he explained in a farewell letter published on social media, a combination of age, injuries and the surgeon’s knife have taken an inevitable toll.

“I’ve worked hard to return to full competitive form,” wrote Federer. “But I also know my body’s capacity and limits, and its message to me lately has been clear. 

“I am 41 years old. I have played more than 1,500 matches over 24 years. Tennis has treated me more generously than I ever would have dreamt, and now I must recognise when it is time to end my professional career.”

“I will play more tennis in the future, of course, but just not in grand slams or on the tour.”

Federer, who hinted that the end was near shortly after his surprise appearance at the Centre Court centenary celebrations on Wimbledon’s middle Sunday, won 103 tour-level titles – second only to Jimmy Connors – including a record eight men’s singles crowns at the All England Club.

His brilliance, which set such a high bar for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, was accompanied by endurance. The dominant player of the noughties, Federer held the No 1 ranking for a record 237 weeks before he was dethroned by Nadal in August 2008. A decade later, following his sixth and final victory at Melbourne Park, he became the oldest No 1 since the ATP rankings were inaugurated in 1973.

Yet Federer’s impact on the sport ranged far beyond mere trophies and statistics. He mined the innate beauty of the game, the natural elegance of his strokes and balletic grace of his movement converting casual followers of the sport into disciples, and piquing interest among the uninitiated. You might not have known tennis but, whoever and wherever you were in the world, you knew Federer.

“The last 24 years on tour have been an incredible adventure,” wrote Federer. “While it sometimes feels like it went by in 24 hours, it has also been so deep and magical that it seems as if I’ve already lived a full lifetime.

“I have had the immense fortune to play in front of you in over 40 countries. I have laughed and cried, felt joy and pain, and most of all I have felt incredibly alive.”

Chief among the host of people to whom Federer paid tribute for their contribution to his career was his “amazing wife”, Mirka, whom he met at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and married nine years later. 

“I would like to especially thank my amazing wife Mirka, who has lived through every minute with me,” said Federer, who also thanked the couple’s “four wonderful children” for their support, which he said had created “wonderful memories”. 

“She has warmed me up before finals, watched countless matches even while over eight months pregnant, and endured my goofy side on the road with my team for over 20 years.”

Federer’s final farewell was, arguably, his most poignant. 

“To the game of tennis,” he wrote, “I love you and I will never leave you.”   

The post ‘I love you and I’ll never leave you’: Federer to retire appeared first on Love Game Tennis.