Federer: “Playing a doubles with Rafa would be an absolute dream”

The most anticipated image of the last days in the world of tennis: Roger Federer is already training in London, on the covered courts of the O2 Arena which this weekend, at the Laver Cup, will host his retirement. The goodbye of a legend who will be surrounded by all those who, beyond the Swiss, have been forging it. The winner of 20 Grand Slams will compete in the tournament, representing Europe, alongside Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The Big Four, the great dominators of the modern era of tennis and, also, of history. Until the last minute, Federer’s participation, despite the fact that he has already been seen training, will be in doubt. It all depends on how your body responds.

With the unknown to be cleared up, Federer himself has drawn how he would like his farewell to be. “Maybe I can play doubles with Rafa (Nadal), that would be an absolute dream”, he declared today in an exclusive interview for the Swiss media SRF. In it, where he has broken his silence for the first time since announcing his withdrawal last Thursday, the Swiss, who is ruled out for an individual match, He has been honest about everything that has happened in the last three years, in which the injuries and their respective operations They have put the brakes on a career that has accumulated more than 1,500 games and 310 weeks at the top of the world ranking (237 consecutively, an absolute record). “It’s good that the reports and news were so positive, I didn’t know what to expect. Until now the echo has been wonderful”, he has valued above all the feedback received after his announcement, which he communicated about “48 hours before” to his closest circle.

And boom and a decision that, during the past Wimbledon, had not yet been made. Federer attended as a guest the major who has won eight times in the hope of stepping on his grass again. Shortly after, after further tests on his knee, he reconsidered. “It cannot be that I am trying to run after something that is no longer realistic,” she defines on television in her country. Behind, he will leave the public that he has so many times enthralled with his elegant game and a string of hits that he is proud of. Full. “There are always little things, but I can’t think of any examples. I see it as an absolute dream race. If he had been a little more professional when he was younger, he might have been more successful. But then I could have burned earlier because it would have been too serious for me, ”he values, putting everything on a scale always tilted towards greatness.