LONDON, Sept 24 (WAM) – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer has brought down the curtain on his sporting career, with a standing ovation from the crowd and tears welling up in the eyes of his most prominent rivals.
Federer, 41, concluded his sporting career alongside Spanish rival Rafael Nadal, where the two players played the doubles match on Friday evening once morest the American duo Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe on the first day of the Laver Cup competitions in the British capital, London.
In front of a huge crowd of fans in the stands, Federer and Nadal lost to the American duo 6-4, 6-7, 9-11, while Federer cried following the match ended with a warm greeting from the fans.
Nadal did not control himself, and he also cried, to be an exciting conclusion to Federer’s professional career, as his career was legendary by all standards.
Nadal, who was Federer’s most prominent competitor for many years in their sports career, said that he will now miss something important with Federer’s retirement, noting that it was a difficult night for him when he saw his friend Federer bid farewell to his professional career.
He explained: “When Federer leaves the stadiums, he will leave an important part of my life because all the moments he spent by my side or competing with me on the field were an important part of my life.”
Over the course of their long and storied sporting careers, Federer and Nadal met 40 times in one of the most intense and exciting competitions in the history of the game, with Nadal winning 24 of those encounters.
But friendship gathered between the two great players outside the field, and it was not surprising that Federer asked Nadal to accompany him on the field in this difficult moment, as the two played together in this match within the European team, but they lost to the representatives of the world team in yesterday’s match in the Laver Cup.
Federer had recently announced that he would retire from tennis following the end of his participation in the Laver Cup in London, and the player, returning from injury, preferred not to play any singles match in the tournament and to be satisfied with the doubles match next to Nadal, which would be the second time that they play side by side in this tournament following participating together in the tournament. The first edition of the tournament in 2017.
Despite his retirement from playing, Federer’s numbers, achievements and titles will continue to speak for themselves throughout history. It holds the record for the number of consecutive weeks a player has spent at the top of the ATP rankings; Having remained at the top of the rankings for 237 consecutive weeks; From February 2, 2004 to August 18, 2008.
Federer comes second behind Novak Djokovic in the list of players most present at the top of the world’s professional rankings, as Federer topped the rankings in 310 weeks.
After 7 years in which American legend Pete Sampras held the record for the number of titles won by any player in the history of his participation in the “Grand Slam” tournaments with 14 titles, Federer succeeded in 2009 to equalize and break this record, raising his tally to 15 titles through the English Open (Wimbledon), and this was just one month following Federer won his only French Open title, Roland Garros, to complete the package of Grand Slam titles.
Over the course of his professional career, Federer won 20 titles in the four Grand Slam tournaments, 6 titles in the Australian Open, 1 title at Roland Garros, 8 titles at Wimbledon, and 5 titles in a row (from 2004 to 2008) at the US Open (Flashing Meadows).
Federer lost this record through the start of his rivals Nadal and Serbian Novak Djokovic in the past years; Nadal raised his tally to 22 Grand Slam titles, compared to Djokovic’s 21 titles.
During 24 years of participation in the professional tournaments, Federer won 1,251 matches to be the second most victorious player in history, with a slight difference from the legend Jimmy Connors (1274 victories).
Federer also comes in second place in the list of players with the most titles in the professional tournaments in general; Where he won 103 titles compared to 109 for Connors himself.
Federer holds another important record; Where he won the final tournament title / World League Final / for the professional season 6 times during 18 participation in this tournament, which is held at the end of each season with the participation of the best players throughout the season. Federer won 59 of these posts.
Federer also won 28 titles in the Masters 1000 points during his professional career.
