selection of Europe – selection of the world 2:2, Last match of the champion! Federer said goodbye to his career, even Nadal couldn’t resist tears

The European team is tied 2:2 with the world selection after the opening day. Australian debutant Alex de Minaur scored a point for captain John McEnroe’s team in singles. Norway’s Casper Ruud and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas succeeded in selecting Europe.

Eight-time Wimbledon champion Federer announced the decision to retire during the London tournament last week. The native of Basel has been limited in recent years by a knee injury. He last played a competitive match last year at Wimbledon.

The 41-year-old phenomenon has 103 tournament titles and two Olympic medals. In Beijing in 2008, he won the doubles gold with Stan Wawrinka, four years later in London he was not enough in the singles final against the home team Andy Murray. In addition to eight Wimbledon titles, he won the Australian Open six times, dominated the US Open five times and dominated Roland Garros once.

Federer and Nadal received loud ovations when they entered the packed O2 arena in London. The match was watched by tennis icons, but also the actor Hugh Grant and the writer JK Rowling. “I’ve done it a thousand times, but this time it’s different. Thanks to everyone who came today,” Federer wrote about the pre-match preparations on Twitter.

At the beginning of the first set, the Swiss hit the ball through a gap in the corner of the net, which caused smiling reactions. Both teams held serve until 5-4, when the Europeans broke Tiafoe’s serve and won the first set. “It’s beautiful to watch everything until the last match. A great way to end a career. Thanks to Roger Federer,” wrote Petra Kvitová on social networks.

In the second set, the Americans got an early break, but in the sixth game, the “Fedal” team equalized the development. The Europeans equalized after Tiafoe’s claimed double touch. At 5:5, Nadal and Federer fended off six break points and the set went to a shortened game. The Americans won it 7:2 and forced a super tie-break.

In it, Federer got a chance to end his career with a triumph. At 9:8, he served to win the match, but Tiafoe averted the match point and then gave the Americans the same opportunity with another shot. After two hours and sixteen minutes, Sock ended the duel with a winning throw. The end of Federer’s career came 25 minutes after midnight in London.

Before the climax of the evening, Ruud, the second ranked tennis player in the world, defeated Sock in the opening singles match in one hour and forty-nine minutes 6:4, 5:7, 10:7. Tsitsipas then clearly outplayed Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6:2, 6:1. The duel was disrupted in London’s O2 arena before the start of the second set by an environmental activist who broke into the playing area, lit a fire there and stuck his right hand into it.

The debutant De Minaur secured the first point of the world selection, who turned the match against the home Andy Murray and won 5:7, 6:3, 10:7 after two and a half hours. Captain McEnroe’s team is aiming for its first ever Laver Cup triumph. The Europeans have won four times so far, the last time they won clearly 14:1 in Boston.