An emotional Roger Federer bids goodbye to professional tennis with a loss in a doubles tennis clash at the Laver Cup, ending his 24-year-career alongside fellow great Rafael Nadal for Team Europe. Earlier this month, the Swiss tennis legend, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles in his career, announced that he will retire after playing in the event.
“It’s been a wonderful day. I told the guys I’m happy; I’m not sad,” Federer said during his on-court speech. “I enjoyed tying my shoes one more time. Everything was the last time.” Federer held his tears a few times during the interview before hugging Nadal and other famous tennis players, while thousands of fans chanted “Let’s go, Roger! Let’s go!” at the O2 Arena in London.
During the doubles match, Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock beat Federer and Nadal 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 11-9 as Team World leveled at 2-2 at the end of the opening day. Federer’s last Grand Slam title came at the 2018 Australian Open, while his last competitive match was a quarter-final defeat against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz at the 2021 Wimbledon.
Team Europe’s duo had a match point at 9-8 in the decider, but Federer lunged for a forehand which sailed into the net to give the Americans a 10-9 lead. Sock served for the match on match point, and after a lengthy rally he ended it with a forehand winner to the corner. Federer’s great rival and his last doubles partner Nadal were in tears as he sat next to him at the end of the match.
“It’s been the perfect journey. I’d do it all again,” Federer added. The Swiss icon bagged a total of 103 titles on tour–second to Jimmy Connors–one Olympic doubles gold medal for Switzerland and 20 Grand Slam singles titles trail only Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who own 21 and 22 titles, respectively. Federer held the No. 1 ranking for 237 consecutive weeks—the longest streak in history.
Tiafoe returned in the singles final to win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, giving Team World their first Laver Cup title and ending Team Europe’s run of four straight European victories since the Laver Cup was inaugurated in 2017. “It is an unbelievable feeling,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “I showed a lot of heart to get this done. This is big. We are going to celebrate big tonight.”
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