Tennis legend Roger Federer wrote a heartfelt letter to Rafael Nadal on Tuesday earlier than the Spanish star joins him in retirement. Nadal is collaborating within the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain this week earlier than saying goodbye to the game he has performed professionally since 2001.
Federer turned professional solely three years earlier than Nadal, and so they spent their careers competing in opposition to one another. The rivalry developed right into a friendship, and Federer’s phrases this week had been crammed with nostalgia and celebration as he shared that Nadal made him “reimagine” his sport.
“Let’s begin with the plain: you beat me—loads. Greater than I managed to beat you,” wrote Federer, who trails his all-time sequence with Nadal, 24-16. “You challenged me in methods nobody else may. On clay, it felt like I used to be getting into your yard, and also you made me work tougher than I ever thought I may simply to carry my floor. You made me reimagine my sport—even going as far as to alter the dimensions of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.”
Federer listed just a few of the quirky issues he seen about his rival’s course of and rituals. It included how Nadal likes to assemble his water bottles “like toy troopers in formation,” how he continually fixes his hair, and adjusts his underwear.
“I am not a really superstitious particular person, however you took it to the following stage…. All of it with the best depth,” Federer wrote. “Secretly, I type of liked the entire thing. As a result of it was so distinctive—it was so that you.”
Federer went on to share a few of their greatest moments, similar to when he was world No. 1 for the primary time after the 2004 Australian Open — just for Nadal to stroll on the Miami court docket two months later along with his “purple sleeveless shirt, displaying off these biceps” and beating him convincingly.
“We had been each at the beginning of our journey and it is one we ended up taking collectively,” Federer stated. “Twenty years later, Rafa, I’ve to say: What an unimaginable run you have had. Together with 14 French Opens—historic! You made Spain proud… you made the entire tennis world proud.”
Federer additionally has not forgotten how Nadal was by his aspect, fairly actually, throughout his personal retirement on the 2022 Laver Cup in London. That occasion gave us the enduring photograph by which they’re holding arms with tears of their eyes — which spoke not nearly their legendary rivalry, but additionally the depth of their friendship. According to El País, Federer has that photograph framed in his house.
“It meant the whole lot to me that you just had been there by my aspect—not as my rival however as my doubles associate,” Federer wrote. “Sharing the court docket with you that night time, and sharing these tears, will perpetually be some of the particular moments of my profession.
“Rafa, I do know you are targeted on the final stretch of your epic profession. We are going to speak when it is completed. For now, I simply wish to congratulate your loved ones and group, who all performed a large position in your success. And I need you to know that your outdated good friend is all the time cheering for you, and might be cheering simply as loud for the whole lot you do subsequent.”
