The 2022 Laver Cup is officially the last professional tournament of Roger Federer’s career, a tennis player who is considered one of the best athletes in history, his indelible legacy will never be forgotten and will be remembered for leading the most glorious era of tennis ever.
His top opponents – be it Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray – leave no doubt about the effort they put into every stroke, every lunge along the baseline, every swift run forward. You could hear the grunts, the gasps and even the high-pitched squeak of their sneakers as they quickly changed direction.
Roger Federer, however, is silent. His shoes do not squeak. It’s as if he’s floating above the court.
Roger Federer reimagined the game of tennis.
Nobody had ever played it with its combination of speed, power, creativity and grace. Not Laver, not Borg, not McEnroe, not Sampras. The Swiss possessed preternatural, almost celestial gifts, the kind of innate talent that novelist David Foster Wallace claimed was “exempt, at least in part, from certain laws of physics.” Federer’s most sublime tennis had to be seen, experienced, to be believed. It was always difficult to describe. The closest thing to it is the ethereal. It is not of this earth.
Roger leaves with a record of 103 individual titles, including his 20 Grand Slams, 8 of which were won at Wimbledon, the cathedral of tennis that crowned its king, the 310 weeks he was number 1 will never be forgotten by those who were able to enjoy his sublime show.
“We’ll get out of this somehow, won’t we, won’t we?”, “I’m happy, I’m not sad. It feels great to be here and I’ve enjoyed tying my shoes once again. It was all the last time. The game was great, I couldn’t be happier. It was wonderful.
Said Federer with a broken voice in the interview of his final match
Rafa Nadal his best rival
A rival is always needed to take human beings to the highest level of their capabilities, and more for an individual sport like tennis, where many are lost in their own feelings of loneliness, a young Spaniard managed to be the one who best understood Federer as an ally and as a rival.
Their tennis battles will never be forgotten, because their motivations to defeat each other took tennis to a level of competition never seen before, where each dominated their own power areas; Rafa recognizes that he became great because he always had Roger in front of him.
“Playing with Rafa on the same team, and having the guys, everybody here, all the legends – Rocket, Edberg, Stefan – thank you.”
Said Roger in his farewell
‘An important part of my life is also leaving.’
Said Rafa
The result of their final match will be anecdotal because even though they lost together, the public was with them because they will always be remembered as the most spectacular rivalry ever seen on a tennis court.
@wil-walteros Source: ATP Oficial
