Federer retires after teaming with Nadal
This day, this match, had to come, of course, for
Roger Federer, and for tennis, just as it inevitably must for every athlete in every sport.
Federer bid adieu Friday night with one last contest before he heads into retirement at age 41 after a superlative career that spanned nearly a quartercentury and included 20 Grand Slam titles and a statesman’s role. He wrapped up his days as a professional player with a 4-6,
7-6 (2), 11-9 loss in doubles alongside his longtime rival
Rafael Nadal for Team Europe in the Laver Cup against Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock of Team World.
“It’s been a perfect journey,” Federer said. “I would do it all over again.”
When the match and, with it, his time in professional tennis ended, Federer hugged Nadal, then Tiafoe and Sock. And then Federer began crying.
There were plenty of tears to go around; Nadal wiped his own away, too.
“When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving, too,” said Nadal, 36, who used the words “sad” and “unforgettable” to describe the occasion.
As cascades of clapping and yells of affection came from the stands, Federer put his hands on his hips, his chest heaving. Then he mouthed, “Thank you,” while applauding right back toward the spectators who had chanted, “Let’s go, Roger! Let’s go!” during the concluding moments of a match that lasted more than two hours and ended at about 12:30 a.m.
His wife, Mirka, their four children — twin girls and twin boys — and Federer’s parents joined him on the court afterward for embraces and, yes, more bawling. Members of both teams joined together to hoist Federer up in the air.
Elsewhere: Rising teenager Zheng Qinwen continued her winning run at the Toray Pan Pacific tournament at Tokyo, beating the sole remaining seed
Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the semifinals.
AETC.
Auto racing: Brad Keselowski has his first pole as an owner-driver at NASCAR’s highest level, a week after RFK Racing’s other car went to Victory Lane. While never in playoff contention after joining a rebranded team with longtime owner Jack Roush this season, 2012 Cup champion Keselowski had a qualifying lap of 189.99 mph at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. It came a week after he got his first stage win of the season at Bristol, where RKF driver Chris Buescher won the race.
Golf: Rasmus Hojgaard holds a slender one-shot lead from George Coetzee at the French Open at Saint-Quentin-enYvelines, France, after making a terrible start to his third round and ending with a 3-over 74.
Soccer: The World Cup is just two months away, and if the United States’ penultimate tuneup Friday was a window into how Gregg Berhalter’s squad will fare in Qatar, it’s going to be a short stay.On its face, a 2-0 defeat to Japan at Dusseldorf, Germany, does not sound catastrophic. But over 90 dreary minutes, the Americans made errors that led to scoring chances and a mistake that led to a first-half goal. They missed an early opportunity that would’ve set the tone, failed to solve problems, lacked ideas and didn’t perform with any style or bite.
AAA