Roger Federer gave his emotional farewell to active tennis at the Laver Cup in London on Saturday at around 0.30 a.m. local time. The 41-year-old Swiss, who played his last match as an active player in the comparison of Europe once morest the rest of the world, lost alongside his constant rival and friend Rafael Nadal once morest Jack Sock/Frances Tiafoe (USA) with 6:4.6 :7(2),9:11 following a match point wasted on your own serve. Team Welt equalized to 2:2.
For Federer, this double meant the end of a sensational career with 20 Grand Slam victories, 103 individual titles and 310 weeks at the top of the tennis world rankings, alongside 22-time major winner Nadal.
“It was a wonderful day. I’m happy, I’m not sad. I enjoyed tying my shoes once more,” said Federer in front of a sold-out O2 Arena before he burst into tears. “I didn’t want to feel lonely out there, saying goodbye with this team feels better.”
The Swiss thanked all his long-time competitors for all the years on the tour. Rafael Nadal mightn’t hold back his tears either when he heard Federer’s words. “It was a wonderful journey, I would do it once more in a heartbeat,” Federer was overwhelmed by emotions.
Before that, the Norwegian Casper Ruud had a 6:4.5:7.10:7 over Jack Sock and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas with a smooth 6:2.6:1 over Diego Schwartzman (ARG) initially to 2:0 for the host provided. Then Andy Murray lost the hard-fought third single of the day once morest Australian Alex de Minaur 7:5,3:6,7:10.
There was an incident during Tsitsipas’ game. After the first set, a man ran onto the pitch at the O2 and inflamed his arm to protest the use of private jets in the UK. Security personnel immediately extinguished the fire and carried the man out of the hall. The match between Tsitsipas and Schwartzman continued without delay.
At the Laver Cup, a European team plays once morest a selection of tennis players from the rest of the world from Friday to Sunday. This time Europe is peppered for the first and last time with the “big three” Federer, Nadal and Djokovic as well as Murray, who is there for the first time. One point is awarded for each win on Friday, two points each on Saturday and three points each on Sunday. The team that reaches 13 points is the winner.