Roger Federer pays tribute to Rafael Nadal ahead of Spaniard’s retirement: ‘You beat me – a lot’
Roger Federer says Rafael Nadal has made him “enjoy the game even more” as the Spaniard retires from tennis this week at the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain.
Federer, who retired with Nadal at the 2022 Laver Cup, opened a letter in honor of his great rival with the salient fact of their rivalry: “You beat me – a lot. More than I could beat you.”
“You challenged me in a way no one else could,” Federer added. Nadal defeated him in their first meeting in 2004 before becoming a major force in tennis by winning the 2005 French Open. Federer had won four Grand Slam titles at the time; he would also win Wimbledon and the US Open in 2005, leading 6–1 in a title count that would end 22–20 in Nadal’s favour.
“I thought I was the best in the world, and I was, until two months later you walked across the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt and showed your biceps, and you beat me convincingly,” Federer recalled of them. first meeting in Miami. They played each other 40 times, with Nadal winning 24-16, including the 2008 Wimbledon final that ended Federer’s five-title run and fully demonstrated how the Spaniard could damage the Swiss.
“You made me rethink my game,” Federer said. The now 43-year-old revamped his backhand to cope with the high topspin forehand that Nadal ruthlessly kicked in and, as he noted in the letter, even changed his racket in search of an edge. He added that playing Nadal on clay, especially at Roland Garros in Paris, where he has won 14 French Open titles and has a match record of 112-4, was “stepping into your backyard.” Federer has previously said that the beef he had with clay tennis was not the surface, but the fact that Nadal insisted.
How Rafael Nadal will leave tennis
Federer called his farewell alongside Nadal at the Laver Cup, in which they played doubles together, “one of the most special moments of my career.”
He also praised Nadal’s idiosyncrasies, “assembling your water bottles like toy soldiers in formation,” and the hair-adjusting, ball-bouncing serve routine that became so familiar to tennis fans around the world.
Nadal, 38, confirmed in October that he was retiring from tennis after two years in which a litany of injuries denied him the ability to play the way he wanted. “I don’t have the opportunity to be competitive the way I like to be competitive. My body is not capable of giving me that opportunity,” he said at a news conference before taking his final bow.
Spain will play the Netherlands today, Tuesday, November 19, from 4:00 PM GMT / 11:00 AM ET.
(Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
