Raf and Rog in tears after big farewell
Rafa Nadal revealed “a part of my life is gone” after he cried with
Roger Federer following the Swiss star’s final match at the Laver Cup.
Federer broke down speaking to The O2 crowd during his fond farewell - and was joined by Nadal and other Euro team-mates. After 24 years on tour, an amazing career ended in tears of joy.
“What I will remember is the emotional faces I saw,” the Swiss said. “Rafa was one of them.”
And the Spaniard said: “Everything became emotional.
I’m a pretty sensitive person. I’m not worried about crying. Crying is good sometimes. You need to let go of these emotions. A part of my life is gone so it’s hard. When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too.”
Federer and Nadal lost a competitive doubles match against Team World pairing Frances Tiafoe and
Jack Sock in the early hours of yesterday morning. But what came next was a standing ovation and tearful hugs from his team-mates, wife Mirka and family before a surprise on-court performance from singer Ellie Goulding.
Federer, who has retired after three operations on his right knee, said: “It has been a wonderful day. I told the guys I’m happy, I’m not sad. It feels great to be here and I enjoyed tying my shoes one more time.
“It does feel like a celebration to me. I wanted to feel like this at the end and it is exactly what I hoped for so thank you. I was able to remind myself always on the court again how wonderful this is. The last two days have been tough. But tonight is all happiness.
“It has been a perfect journey and I would do it all over again.”
Nadal dashed home to be with his pregnant wife Xisca and will take no more part in the Laver Cup. But the Australian and French Open champion, who shares 42 Slam titles and a close friendship with Federer, said: “It was important to me because I knew how important it was to him. I couldn’t miss his day.”
● Emma Raducanu’s best run since her US Open win ended in another injury at the Korea Open.
The British No.1 had won three on the spin for the first time as a Major champion to reach the semi-finals.
Raducanu took the first set against top seed Jelena Ostapenko but then suffered a glute injury and threw in the towel after losing the first three games of the third set.
She said: “The rest of this year is just really about trying to build myself up physically.”