Roger Federer misses Rafael Nadal: ‘With him it was different from other matches’

Rafael Nadal officially concluded his 2022 season a good ten days ago, during the Turin Masters, where the Spaniard appeared a bit exhausted. But he is not idle for all this. He is currently in Argentina to play a series of exhibition matches against Casper Ruud, against whom he also played (and won) the last official match of the year at the Pala Alpitour. But more than him, there was talk in Buenos Aires of what will now be the great absentee of men’s tennis, Roger Federer.

The Swiss star finally turned his back on competition in September, with a flashy bye during the Laver Cup. In London, Federer played a doubles match with Rafael Nadal. The images of the two men, in tears and holding hands at the end of the match, went around the world. “Part of me went with him“, the Majorcan had confided. In Argentina, with more hindsight, he used the same words with Reuters: “Part of my life was gone when he retired.”

To explain his emotional state at the O² Arena, Rafael Nadal recalled that Federer was “someone I admired, fought with but also shared very good things with on and off the pitch.” And the current number 2 in the world confided that the bond that united them had something special in his eyes, unique even on the track: “With him it was different from the other matches. These feelings before playing a Grand Slam final or a major tournament, all that was in the air before these matches. You know that now that he’s gone, you won’t relive those times.”

At 36, it is also a bit of his future that Nadal touched upon during the Laver Cup. One day it will be his turn to say goodbye and that day is inexorably approaching. But that doesn’t worry him, quite the contrary. “I’m pretty well prepared for my life outside of tennisassures. I don’t think it will be a problem for me to adjust. There are things in my life that are important or more important than tennis“Remember he just became a dad for the first time last September. But for now he still feels like a player.”My time will come when it comes“, he says to curb speculation.