Tennis
“You have made the entire tennis world proud”: Federer with emotional letter to Nadal
Rafael Nadal’s last tournament before retirement starts today at the Davis Cup. His long-time competitor and friend Roger Federer wrote an emotional letter to the Spaniard on social media.
The Swiss Roger Federer and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal faced each other on the tennis court a total of forty times. The two, who are among the best tennis players in history, fought many an epic battle.
Emotional: When Federer left the tennis world, the two stars couldn’t hold back their feelings.
Federer ended his great career at the Laver Cup with a doubles match with Rafael Nadal over two years ago. Even then, both tennis legends became very emotional and couldn’t hold back their tears.
Nadal’s last games are coming up
Now it’s time for Rafael Nadal’s final appearance at the Davis Cup. The final tournament of the national competition will take place in Malaga this week. The Spaniards will face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Before the last tournament for the 22-time Grand Slam winner, Federer contacted social media with a long and emotional letter. In this, Federer thanked the Spaniard for his long-standing friendship and competition.
Federer starts the letter with the obvious from his point of view: in the forty games against Nadal, Federer left the court as a loser 24 times.
Friendship despite competition
Federer also mentioned the Spaniard’s many different rituals. For example, how he lined up his water bottles in a soldier formation or how he straightened his hair and adjusted his underwear before serving. The Swiss loved everything about Nadal.
In the following letter the “Maestro” had a few anecdotes to tell. For example, how he met “Rafa” for the first time and how many raved about the player from Mallorca, who had huge talent and would probably win a Grand Slam one day. For Federer, what arose around Nadal at the time was more than just hype.
Twenty years later, the Spaniard’s career is nearing its end and Federer can say that he is impressed by Nadal’s successes:
«What an incredible career you have had. You made Spain proud… you made the whole tennis world proud.”
The Swiss’s last game was also mentioned again. For Federer, it meant everything that Nadal was on the court with him on this occasion.
Federer ended the letter with the words “Always the best for you, your fan” and his signature. The fans expressed their joy in the comments about Federer’s contribution and their gratitude for having experienced this time between the two.
One final title?
Record winner in France: Nadal won his last Grand Slam tournament over two years ago.
It is still unclear when exactly Nadal’s last game will take place. Already on Tuesday? In the semi-finals or even the final on Sunday? Even whether he still plays is currently in question. So is his time as a substitute coming to an end? “If it doesn’t make sense, then I’ll be the first to say it,” promised Nadal.
Spain’s team boss David Ferrer will only announce his line-up shortly before the quarter-finals. Until then, Spain will observe, analyze and speculate. Every move by the departing superstar is of interest these days. Nadal takes the hype in stride. “That won’t distract me. I’m not here to resign, but to help the team,” he assured.
Nadal nurtured the hope that the end was still one match or two away. “I was able to prepare quite well,” he reported about the recent training days in his own academy in Mallorca and then became a bit sentimental: “I’m excited to bring a long and wonderful part of my life to an end,” he said 38 year old. “You have to accept that everything has a beginning and an end.”
Even though Nadal explained that there is no such thing as a perfect farewell and that such endings are reserved for American films, a final Davis Cup title with him on the pitch would be very close to a Hollywood scenario. The down-to-earth Nadal also thinks so: “That would be a nice farewell for me and a joy for all of us.” (riz/sda)
