FED’S GOT THE LOVE
Legend Roger has new respect for eternal rival Nadal
BOTH Team Europe and the inaugural Laver Cup played their trump card yesterday — a triple helping of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The opposite sides of perhaps the greatest and longest rivalry in any sport came together in unprecedented fashion to turbo charge the latter’s Ryder Cup-style event, and also the chances of the host continent winning it.
Uniquely, they were playing alongside each other in doubles last night, having already won their respective singles to put Europe seven points to one up over the World team after six of the 12 scheduled rubbers had been completed.
Federer and Nadal have been facing off against each other for more than 13 years and clocked up 37 matches in their career series, nine of them Grand Slam finals. Now 36 and 31, it is extraordinary that they still straddle the world rankings as No 1 and No 2.
At a stretch it is conceivable that the Swiss could knock the Spaniard off the top spot by the end of the season, the two of them having split the four Major titles between them in 2017.
In some ways their rivalry is less dramatic for the fact that it has been conducted, by and l arge, in a remarkably cordial fashion with little personal edge.
That sounds unlikely to change much following this week when they are on the same side, which has given Federer the chance to view Nadal from a new perspective.
‘I’ve known Rafa for so long that I have seen his relaxed mode, we have played together in charity matches,’ said the Swiss, who dispatched the World’s Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2 in just 70 minutes. ‘Now I have seen him sort of preparing within a team, and I can see he’s a wonderful team player. He always thinks of the team members first.
‘Then he’s just got great energy and a good balance. I think that’s why he has longevity, because he’s ultra intense when he gets on the court. But away from it, he’s very relaxed. I feel like I’m the same way. I think like you can only manage it this way when you want to achieve longevity. He’s a joy to be around.’
In those work-relaxation balance observations there might be a relevance for Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, who have poured themselves into their careers with a relentlessness that now sees them out for the long term.
The tournament is the brainchild of Federer and his management company, and the Swiss is also seeing the sport from a new perspec- tive. ‘I can see what a tournament director goes through,’ he said. ‘You listen to the little signs that agents and players give you, if they have booked their flights and hotel rooms. When you hear he’s arrived, you’re like, “Oh, he’s here” and you start to become more relaxed.’
The presence of Federer and Nadal is what any tournament director craves, and the Spaniard duly delivered before another packed 02 Arena by battling through to a 6-3, 3- 6, 11- 9 victory over America’s Jack Sock.
It was a match crackling with intensity, with World captain John McEnroe driving his player on. ‘Let’s finish this son of a bitch off,’ McEnroe was picked up saying to Sock after the second set.
With today’s four rubbers worth three points each — opposed to two yesterday and one on Friday — the idea is that the overall outcome can still be in doubt until the end.