Tennis legend Roger Federer has fought several battles with his eternal rival Rafael Nadal on the tennis court, but their iconic confrontation in the 2008 Wimbledon final helped strengthen the Swiss superstar’s bond with his fans, according to Federer himself. Coming in as the defending champion, he fell to Nadal in an epic five-set match. It was the longest Wimbledon singles final in terms of time played, until it was dethroned by the 2019 battle between the Swiss and Novak Djokovic.
The former world number 1 spoke about his loss in the 2008 Wimbledon final in a recent interview with GQ, and stated that he felt devastated after the match, as Nadal had broken the Swiss’s 40-match Grand Slam winning streak. Federer’s favorite. However, upon arriving in the United States a few months later, Federer realized that people viewed his defeat positively, which helped strengthen his bond with the fans.
“I think that in 2008, when I lost against Rafa [en Wimbledon, en lo que muchos piensan que fue el mejor partido de todos los tiempos]”It was a very particular moment because obviously I was devastated after losing that match,” Federer admitted. “But when I got to the United States a month later, people were still talking about it: ‘Oh my God, that Wimbledon match.’ And I: ‘Yes, it was good.’ ‘No, no, it was special and shit. So you lost. But gosh, I mean seeing your human side and we’ve seen you win so much. So seeing you on the losing side felt really different and special.'”
“I said, ‘Yeah, okay. The game was good, but that’s it.’ It went on for days and days until I realized we had created something special at that very moment.”
2024-03-15 06:33:52
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