Friday doubles at Laver Cup will be Federer’s curtain call
Federer reveals more about the days leading up to his retirement and how the last hour of his Wimbledon loss to Hurkacz was one of the worst of his career
Nadal and Federer, Laver Cup 2017 – © AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Roger Federer will bring the curtain down on his incredible career on Friday at the Laver Cup with a doubles match. The Swiss confirmed the information on Friday in a round table with Swiss media in London.
In a tweet posted on Wednesday evening, Simon Haring was the first to write: “Federer told the Swiss Press, that his goal is to play Doubles on Friday on an “acceptable level”.
Federer will not play singles at the Laver Cup and Friday will be his final match as a professional.” In a Facebook post released on Wednesday to his fans, he revealed that he had to be ready for “one more match”.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion announced last week that he would be retiring from the sport after the Laver Cup in London. He has not played an official match since Wimbledon in 2021.
Federer’s child didn’t like the decision
According to the Laver Cup format, each team is allowed to send at least four of the six players to take part in the doubles rubber while all the players must take the court at least once for the singles matches. It remains to be seen if there is any change in the official rules prior to his singles match.
In his interaction with the Swiss media, Federer spoke about the few days leading up to his announcement, saying that he felt a knot in his stomach because he kept postponing everything.
The kids asked: Are we not going to Halle, to Wimbledon, to Indian Wells anymore?
Roger Federer
“In the two or three weeks before, I had a knot in my stomach. Because I postponed everything. Tony (Godsick) almost went crazy because I took so much time. Since it’s out, I’m better. Writing the letter took a lot of energy. It was very moving, especially for my parents and Mirka. In the meantime, I can talk about the retirement easily, I didn’t expect that,” Federer said as per quotes translated by Simon Graf.
Talking about his family, Federer said three of his four kids cried when he told them about the news and that the last few years had been very hard for his wife, Mirka Federer.
“They were very emotional. Three out of four cried. They asked: Are we not going to Halle, to Wimbledon, to Indian Wells anymore? I said: Not really. But if you want, we can go again. The last few years were hard for me, but I think they were even harder for her (Mirka). She really didn’t enjoy watching me anymore, with all the injuries. I felt kind of sorry for her.”
“The last set against Hurkacz was one of the worst hours of my career” – Federer
Federer also revealed that he made the final decision a few days after Wimbledon when he realized his knee was not progressing enough for him to comeback. “(I made the decision) A few days after Wimbledon, in July. The knee just wasn’t progressing anymore. I asked myself: what’s the point? We had been on thin ice for a long time. I know it’s the right decision, the only good decision.”
Speaking about his final tournament, Federer described the last hour of his match against Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon in 2021 as one of the worst of his career. “It was tough, the whole comeback was extremely difficult. I was so far from 100 percent. Reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon was unbelievable for me. The last set against Hurkacz was one of the worst hours of my career.”
The Swiss added that he has been feeling the ball well enough in practice and better than his initial expectations but ruled out playing singles. “I am quite surprised how well I am playing in practice here. But it was already clear beforehand that I would only play doubles, probably on Friday evening. That’s why playing the Swiss Indoors in Basel was no longer an option. Hopefully (I will be) good enough for doubles. In July, I started to cut down on practice more and more, but still wanted to stay in shape.”
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