Roger and out with tears and laughter
An emotional Roger Federer paid tribute to his wife Mirka and declared himself happy as his professional career came to an end in London.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion bowed out from competitive tennis on Friday with a final match in the Laver Cup, at the O2 Arena in London. He and Rafael Nadal were defeated in a doubles match but it was still a celebration for the 41-year-old.
As both shed tears, Federer joked: “We’ll get through this. 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 has been a perfect journey and I’d do it all over again.”
Rasmus Hojgaard bounced back from a nightmare start yesterday to head into the final round of the Cazoo Open de France with a one-shot lead.
The Dane saw his commanding six-shot halfway advantage cut to one stroke in the early stages of his third round after running up a quintuple-bogey eight at the short second hole, having found the water three times.
The shell-shocked 21-yearold then sent his tee-shot at the next hole straight into the water and made a bogey there to surrender the lead.
But he recovered with birdies at the sixth, eighth and 11th as well as several important par saves to return to the top of the leaderboard.
And Hojgaard mixed two birdies with two bogeys over the last seven holes to post a 74 and finish the day on 12-under-par.
A two-shot swing on the final hole saw George Coetzee get within one of Hojgaard as he finished his 68 with a birdie courtesy of a magnificent approach shot.
Home favourite Paul Barjon and Belgian Thomas Pieters were another shot further back in a tie for third on 10 under.
Hojgaard remains in contention for a wire-to-wire victory as he goes in search of a fourth DP World Tour title.
He said: “It’s obviously not the Saturday I wanted but at the same time I’m just happy that I stayed in there, managed to make some birdies and I still have the lead. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I’ll just be patient. I showed out there today that by being patient I managed to make a few birdies and not let it affect me too much. Hopefully I’ll get off to a better start but I’ll stay patient and trust what I’m doing.”
Welshman Jamie Donaldson and England’s Jordan Smith sit on eight under, while Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Robert MacIntyre are on six under and five under respectively.
▪ ANNE Van Dam continued her consistent week in Ireland and a two-under round of 70 was enough to give her a one-shot lead heading into the final day of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
The Dutch star began her day with a birdie at the first before making a bogey on the second, but rolled in birdies at four and six to make the turn in 33.
Despite two more dropped shots on the back nine, Van Dam also made two birdies at 15 and 16 for a round of two-under and to put her on 11-under-par at the top of the leaderboard.
“It was a crazy day! It was definitely playing the toughest out of the three days so far. It was colder and very gusty and windy,” she said.
“Plus, the wind was in a slightly different direction, so I was guessing a little bit on some shots. It didn’t work out the best for me but that’s golf.”
Sweden’s Jessica Karlsson produced a great round of 67 to move just one shot behind the leader while it was also a good day for England’s Annabel Dimmock, who shot a 68 to lie on the same mark.
Six players are just two shots off the lead, including home favourite Leona Maguire, who fired the best round of the day with a 65 to move to nine-under-par.