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      The Billionaire Trying to Turn Kazakhstan Into a Tennis Nation

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      Bulat Utemuratov decided in 2007 to create a tennis culture for the masses in a former Soviet Republic known for combat sports and weight lifting. Casual tennis fans likely got their first glimpse of perhaps the most surprising rising power player in the sport at Wimbledon in July, when a dark-haired, superfan in a Panama hat and blue blazer embraced Elena Rybakina, the native Russian turned Kazakh who won the women’s singles title.“Unbelievable support,” Rybakina said of the effusiveness of Bulat Utemuratov, the billionaire who invested in her game and changed her life, as she thanked him during the Wimbledon trophy presentation.Utemuratov’s sporting indulgences are back at the center of the sport this week. Because of him, the center of the tennis universe has shifted to a medium-sized city in Kazakhstan, a country that was only nominally on the tennis map a decade ago but now has the wherewithal to lure many of the biggest stars of the game.Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and a handful of other top players competed this week in Astana, the capital of a vast Central Asian republic, because Utemuratov, a Kazakh diplomat and industrialist decided 15 years ago to use his largess to turn his country into an emerging tennis force.“I liked it from the beginning,” Utemuratov, 64, said of tennis during a recent interview, though that beginning didn’t arrive until he was in his 30s.Rybakina’s run to the Wimbledon championship caused a major dust-up. Players from Russia and Belarus were barred from participating in this year’s tournament because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Rybakina, 23, was born and raised in Moscow, where her family still lives. She became a citizen of Kazakhstan five years ago in exchange for financial support from Utemuratov and the country’s tennis federation. It was just one part of Utemuratov’s strategy for turning the former Soviet republic into a legitimate tennis nation, as odd as that sounded when he launched it in the ‘aughts.His multipronged approach could serve as a blueprint for other nations that want to get better at tennis, or really any sport, as long as they have one key ingredient — a billionaire willing to spend whatever it takes. The sports world is filled with billionaires who buy teams and use them as fancy toys. Utemuratov chose to essentially buy an entire sport, for now, in his own country, though he is becoming increasingly influential internationally.Utemuratov boxed and played soccer and table tennis in his youth. He did not start playing tennis until Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet business community embraced it in the 1990s. During the Soviet era, tennis was frowned upon as a sport of the elite. There were only a handful of tennis courts in the entire country, and playing on them was extremely expensive.To Utemuratov, tennis was a revelation — a physical version of chess, requiring versatility, intellectual wherewithal, maximum concentration and constant athletic improvement.Utemuratov’s tennis prowess rose with his political and financial prominence. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he served as both an economic envoy for Kazakhstan to Europe and the United Nations, the leader of one of top financial institutions and a special aide to then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Nazarbayev ruled the country essentially as a dictator for three decades as it worked to modernize and take advantage of its vast oil reserves.An aerial view of Nur-Sultan (Astana) where the Astana Open is taking place.Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated PressIn a country where soccer and combat sports ruled and its most prominent athlete is Gennady Golovkin, the middleweight boxing champion known as Triple G, tennis barely registered. By 2007, the country’s tennis federation was nearly bankrupt. Utemuratov and other business leaders discussed what they could do to save the national federation. Utemuratov, who had become a big fan of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, offered his services.It was, he said, a special challenge, “like starting from scratch,” and doing so in a poor, sprawling country, with just 20 million people spread across a territory nearly 2,000 miles wide and 1,000 miles from top to bottom. Kazakhstan stretches from close to Mongolia to within a few hundred miles of Ukraine’s eastern border. It’s brutally cold for much of the year, too, and there were still barely any tennis courts.Using almost entirely Utemuratov’s money, the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation went on a building spree, investing roughly $200 million — nearly a tenth of his estimated fortune — to construct 38 tennis centers in all 17 regions of the country. It trained hundreds of coaches and instructors and imported some from Europe. It subsidized lessons for young children and adolescents who can train six days a week for $40-$120 per month. The best juniors receive as much as $50,000 to pay for training and travel.Utemuratov said making the sport affordable was essential to changing the perception of tennis to a game for all people from one of just the elite. There are now 33,000 registered players at all levels in Kazakhstan. In 2007, there were just 1,800. A staff of 32 at the federation’s headquarters is in constant contact with 70 other coaches and employees at the tennis centers tracking the progress of promising juniors.Dave Miley, an Irishman who led player development at the International Tennis Federation, arrived two years ago to serve as the executive director of the K.T.F. Miley said money alone will not produce high-level players.As interest and participation grew and the quality of play improved, the federation partnered with academies in Spain, Italy, and other established tennis countries to send its best junior players there to train. It held international tournaments from young juniors to the professional ranks.“You only produce players if you have a systematic approach,” he said.That is only partly true.Utemuratov knew that people in his country would truly embrace the sport only if Kazakhstan had top professionals. And he didn’t want to wait a generation to see if the country might produce one organically.So instead of waiting, he adopted a strategy that lots of other countries have used to pursue excellence in other sports — he began to look abroad, specifically to Russia, in search of players who had talent but were not successful enough to garner support from the tennis federation there. His offer was simple: Play for Kazakhstan, which shares a language and a history with Russia, and the country will fund your career.He found early takers in Yuri Schukin and Yaroslava Shvedova. Schukin never cracked the top 100 but Shvedova reached a career-high ranking of No. 25 in 2012. She made the quarterfinals in singles of three Grand Slam tournaments and won doubles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Schukin is now one of the country’s leading coaches.More recently, Rybakina and Alexander Bublik another native Russian, signed on to represent Kazakhstan. Russia’s tennis federation had essentially discarded both players, leaving them and their families to find coaching and court access on their own.Bublik said he first met Utemuratov when he was a young teenager playing in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Utemuratov had reserved a court for several hours to play with his daughter. They finished early and Utemuratov told Bublik to use the rest of his court time.Robert Perry/Press Association, via Associated PressBublik, 25, decided to make Kazakhstan his second home in 2016 after he made the quarterfinals of a second-tier tournament, but with little help from Russia’s tennis federation. With Kazakhstan funding his travel and coaching, he cracked the top 100 a little more than a year later.A lot of players receive funding when they are young from an individual sponsor who is only in it to get paid back and take his share of the winnings when a player becomes successful, Bublik said last week from his third home, in Monte Carlo.“For him it’s his passion,” said Bublik, who is now ranked 43rd. “It’s a big love from his side.”Utemuratov, who is now a close friend, confidant and mentor of Bublik’s, speaks with Bublik often, though Bublik said the one topic he rarely follows Utemuratov’s advice on is tennis strategy.Despite Rybakina’s recent success, Utemuratov said Kazakhstan no longer actively looks for Russian prospects.Instead, it is more focused on the development of players like Zangar Nurlanuly, who has held the top ranking in his age group in Europe and this year led his teammates to the semifinals of the I.T.F. under-14 World Junior Tennis Finals, a kind of Davis Cup for small fries. Utemuratov joined the team’s courtside celebration after it got through the preliminary round.Utemuratov’s investment is paying off for him outside Kazakhstan’s tennis circles. He is now a vice president of the I.T.F., the sport’s world governing body.The next big step happens this week, as Kazakhstan hosts a Masters 500 tournament, just below the top-level tour events, for the first time, after years of hosting lower-tier competitions. In another first, Utemuratov said the tennis federation did not have to give away tickets to fill the stands. More

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      Federer on His Exit and Holding Nadal’s Hand: ‘It’s Maybe a Secret Thank You’

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      In an interview, Roger Federer opens up about the emotions of his goodbye at the Laver Cup and about the future of men’s tennis. “Nobody needs to play like me, by the way,” he said.Roger Federer, newly retired, was back in Switzerland on Monday night after flying home from London, where he wrapped up a whirlwind farewell to his competitive career with one last match at the Laver Cup.He partnered with his friendly rival Rafael Nadal in doubles for Team Europe, losing a close match to Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock of Team World, which also went on to win the Laver Cup for the first time in five attempts.But the defeat was secondary to the occasion — an intense, emotional goodbye for Federer and those surrounding him, including his wife, Mirka, and their four children, plus his friendly rivals Nadal and Novak Djokovic.Federer, 41, established himself long ago as one of the greatest players in tennis history, but after breaking Pete Sampras’s men’s record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles in 2009, he chose to play on for 13 more years. He won five more majors and at age 36 became the oldest men’s No. 1 since the advent of the ATP rankings in 1973.His departure marks the beginning of the end of a golden age in the men’s game in which Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have developed rich and long-running rivalries, lifting each other and their sport. Federer, for all his longevity and tennis genius, now ranks third in the Grand Slam singles titles chase behind Nadal with 22 and Djokovic with 21. I first interviewed Federer in February 2001, in his home city of Basel, Switzerland, when he was still a teenager and had yet to win his first major. On Monday night, we spoke by telephone about the 21 years since and his goodbye to competition:This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.So, how do you feel now that it’s really over?I think I feel complete. I lost my last singles match. I lost my last doubles match. I lost my voice from screaming and supporting the team. I lost the last time as a team. I lost my job, but I’m very happy. I’m good. I’m really good. That’s the ironic part, is everybody thinks about happy fairy-tale endings, you know? And for me, actually it ended up being that but in a way that I never thought was going to happen.Federer partnered with his friendly rival Rafael Nadal in doubles for Team Europe at the Laver Cup.James Hill for The New York TimesRafa Nadal clearly made a big effort to be part of the event on Friday, given his wife’s pregnancy. What did it mean, knowing all that you knew, for him to be there for you for the doubles?I called him after the U.S. Open — I waited for him to finish that tournament — just to let him know about my retirement.Roger Federer’s Farewell to Professional TennisThe Swiss tennis player leaves the game with one of the greatest competitive records in history.An Appraisal: “He has, figuratively and literally, re-embodied men’s tennis, and for the first time in years, the game’s future is unpredictable,” the author David Foster Wallace wrote of Roger Federer in 2006.A Poignant Send-Off: Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, offered a sensible final act for one of the greatest players of this era.Two Great Rivals: When players retire from individual sports like tennis, their rivalries go with them. Here is a look at some of the best matches that pitted Federer against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.Tennis After Federer: The Swiss player, along with Nadal and Djokovic, helped define a remarkably durable period in men’s tennis history. Following behind is a new generation of hungry players, ready to muscle their way into the breach.And I just wanted to let him know before he started making some plans without the Laver Cup at all. I told him on the phone that I was probably 50-50 or 60-40 on making the doubles. I told him, “Look, I’ll keep you posted. You let me know how things are at home. And we’ll reconnect.”But it very quickly got clear on the phone, and Rafa told me, “I will try everything I possibly can to be there with you.” And that felt obviously incredible for me. And it showed again how much we mean to one another and how much respect we have. And I just thought it would be just a beautiful, amazing story for us, for sports, for tennis, and maybe beyond that as well, where we can coexist in a tough rivalry and come out on top and show that, hey, again it’s just tennis. Yes, it’s hard, and it’s brutal sometimes, but it’s always fair. And you can come out on the other side and still have this great, friendly rivalry. I just thought it ended up even better than I ever thought it would. So, an incredible effort by Rafa, and I’ll obviously never forget what he did for me in London.Those raw emotions after the match were powerful for a lot of people around the world, particularly the scenes with you and Rafa. Do you think you maybe changed the way people view male athletes?I think I have always had a hard time keeping my emotions in check, winning and losing. In the beginning, it was more about being angry and sad and crying. And then, I was happy-crying about my wins. I think on Friday, this was another animal, to be honest, because I think all of the guys — Andy [Murray], Novak and also Rafa — saw their careers flashing in front of their eyes, knowing that we all in a way have been on borrowed time for long enough already. As you get older, you get into your 30s, you start knowing what you really appreciate in life but also from the sport.Have you seen the photo of you and Rafa sitting on the bench crying and holding hands?I have seen it.“I was sobbing so hard, and, I don’t know, everything was going through my mind about how happy I am to actually experience this moment right there with everybody,” Federer said.Ella Ling/Shutterstock What’s it like to look at that image?Well, I mean, it was a short moment. I think at one point, I was sobbing so hard, and I don’t know, everything was going through my mind about how happy I am to actually experience this moment right there with everybody. And I think that’s what was so beautiful about just sitting there, taking it all in while the music was playing, and the focus was maybe more on her [the singer Ellie Goulding]. So, you almost forgot that you’re still being taken pictures of. I guess at one point, just because obviously I couldn’t speak and the music was there, I guess I just touched him, and I guess it’s maybe a secret thank you. I don’t know what it was, but for me, that’s maybe what it was and how it felt and some pictures came out of it. Different ones. Not just that one but other ones, too, that were just completely crazy, you know, so with different angles, and I hope to get those because they mean a lot to me.That moment when you’re talking to your kids and telling them, I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m crying because I’m happy. I think any parent could relate to that.I didn’t know that people could hear that. They looked so sad to me, and when I told them I was retiring, also three of them were crying, because they think that I’m sad about it, but I’m truly not. And, of course, a moment like this is so powerful in the arena. It was hard not to cry at some point, and not just hard for them.You dehydrated the world.We’ve got to recharge on those tears.“I ultimately said, look, it’s OK, I accept it. Because I left it all out there. Nothing more to prove,” Federer said.James Hill for The New York TimesYou’ve said, “It’s time to stop. I can feel it.” Is that mostly based on feeling you just can’t move the way you need to move on tour anymore to compete?That’s part of it. It’s also the age, let’s be honest. And going to the very end of it, I don’t see the point. I tried so long the last few years that it’s fine. You know, it’s all good. And you get to a point where, you know, when I did the surgery last year I knew it was going be a long road back. And it was going to take me probably a year.So, of course, in my dream, I saw myself playing again, but I was very realistic about the comeback. Number one, I did it for my personal life. I knew it was the right thing to do: Let’s get this leg fixed and all that. For that, I had to do a proper rehab. If I just retire, I know I will not do my rehab correctly. So, if I stay active and I’m still a professional tennis player, I know I will do it 100 percent right. And I keep the options open to hopefully maybe return to exhibition tennis at least, 250s hopefully, 500s and 1000s if things really go super well. And Grand Slams if, you know, magic happens.As time went by, I could feel less and less chance as the knee was creating problems for me as I was struggling to power through. And that’s when I ultimately said, look, it’s OK, I accept it. Because I left it all out there. Nothing more to prove.You rarely showed it, but what percentage of your matches did you play over the years in some kind of pain?I think we all play sick and hurt. I was always of the impression that I can play through some pain, a lot of pain, like we all have to. But I think I always felt my body very well. I knew when I could power through and when I had to be careful. And I was always of the opinion that I’d rather take the rest at some point: give myself the extra week, the extra day, the extra hour, the extra month, whatever it is, and take it easy, go back to training and then come back strong again. That’s why I tried to avoid any sorts of injections and operations for the longest time until I had to have surgery in 2016.Team World, in red, won the Laver Cup for the first time in five attempts.James Hill for The New York TimesI know you were joking with your teammates in London about your lack of mobility, but are you confident now after playing the doubles that your body will allow you to play exhibition tennis?I have to go back to the drawing board now and just see after this incredible weekend, what I should do next.I think it would be beautiful to somehow have a goodbye exhibition game, you know, and thank the fans, because obviously Laver Cup was already sold out before I knew about retirement. A lot of people would have loved to get more tickets and couldn’t, so I just feel maybe it would be nice to have one more or several goodbye exhibitions, but I’m not sure if I could or I should do that now. But obviously I would love to play exhibitions down the road, take tennis to new places or take it back to fun places where I had a blast.As you step away, do you see anybody out there who plays the game like you do?Not right now. Obviously, it would have to be a guy with a one-handed backhand. Nobody needs to play like me, by the way. People also thought I was going to play like Pete Sampras, and I didn’t. I think everybody needs to be their own version of themselves. And not a copycat, even though copying is the biggest sign of flattery. But I wish all of them to find their own selves, and tennis will be great. I’m sure I’ll always be the No. 1 fan of the game. And I’ll follow, sometimes in the stands, sometimes on TV, but of course, I hope for enough one-handers, enough attacking tennis, enough flair. But I’m going to sit back and relax and watch the game from a different angle.Meanwhile, your rivals play on. You said it was important to retire first as you are the oldest. Were you worried Rafa would beat you to it this spring when he was considering retirement because of his foot problems?I got a scare with Murray, too. I remember vividly when I saw him in the locker room in Australia in 2019 after his Bautista match [referring to Roberto Bautista Agut]. I remember he said, “I might be done.” We were asked to do farewell videos; I had a chance to go. I went up to him and asked him, “Are you like seriously done?” And I remember him telling me, “Well, with this hip, I can’t play anymore.” So, he knew he was at a huge crossroads in his life. But yeah, I’m happy I could go first, because I also am supposed to go first. So, that’s why it’s felt good. And I hope they can all play as long as possible and squeeze that lemon out. I really wish the best for them. More

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      Federer’s Goodbye a Reminder of the Events and Shots That Make His Legacy

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      Federer kept alive a one-handed backhand, tried rushing the net on returns and helped popularize the between-the-legs shot. And with the Laver Cup, he showed that tournaments can be different, too.After more than 25 years on the professional court, Roger Federer announced his plans to retire. Federer is the first man to win 20 Grand Slam titles and is considered one of the greatest athletes ever.James Hill for The New York TimesAfter Roger Federer bid a teary and moving farewell to competitive tennis late Friday night in London, one of his legacies to the game is clear.It is the Laver Cup, the annual and itinerant team event that was his vehicle for saying goodbye.The tennis calendar is not quite as overstuffed as usual with no tournaments in China since 2019 and no tournaments in Russia for the foreseeable future. But the gaps will continue to be refilled, and Federer and his agent Tony Godsick have used plenty of their political capital to try to anchor the Laver Cup in the schedule since its creation in 2017.Their pressure led to it becoming an official part of the ATP Tour, even though it offers no ranking points and has a shortened format with match tiebreakers in lieu of full third sets.Its structure remains intriguing but challenging: matching up all-star teams from Europe and the rest of the world even though Europe remains the clear center of power in the men’s game and the “rest of the world” is not a natural sporting entity. The Cup also does not attract all the world’s top players as a matter of course. The new No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz, a 19-year-old Spaniard who just won the U.S. Open, chose to play a more traditional team event, the Davis Cup, last week.But Laver Cup, with its high-end production values (and ticket prices), is certainly a big cut above a regular tournament and has generated plenty of highlights and emotion in its five years of existence, with Federer setting the tone. Federer, a part owner of the event that is run by his management company, Team8, cares about its viability and credibility.For his last match, Roger Federer chose the Laver Cup, an event he was worked to expand and promote.James Hill for The New York TimesThough he has had his fill of internal tour politics, he intends to keep bringing his star power to the Laver Cup, even in retirement. Expect him to be captain of the European team at some stage. Why not with his friend and former rival Andy Roddick as a quotable captain of Team World?It is an unusual heritage. Federer’s superstar predecessors like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl created no enduring tour-level events, although Novak Djokovic is perhaps on his way with the ATP tournament in his home city of Belgrade, Serbia.But this is certainly a more lasting contribution to pro tennis than one-off lucrative exhibitions, which Federer will surely do more of as well if his fragile knee cooperates. How about one versus Rafael Nadal in Real Madrid’s revamped Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, when its renovations are finally completed?Laver Cup, as Federer intended, creates connections between tennis generations, and one of Federer’s much younger teammates, the Italian Matteo Berrettini, reminded Federer on Saturday that he chose tennis because he was a Federer fan who used to hunt for his autograph at the Italian Open in Rome.Roger Federer’s Farewell to Professional TennisThe Swiss tennis player leaves the game with one of the greatest competitive records in history.An Appraisal: “He has, figuratively and literally, re-embodied men’s tennis, and for the first time in years, the game’s future is unpredictable,” the author David Foster Wallace wrote of Roger Federer in 2006.A Poignant Send-Off: Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, will offer a sensible final act for one of the greatest players of this era.Two Great Rivals: When players retire from individual sports like tennis, their rivalries go with them. Here is a look at some of the best matches that pitted Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.Tennis After Federer: The Swiss player, along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, helped define a remarkably durable period in men’s tennis history. Following behind is a new generation of hungry players, ready to muscle their way into the breach.But what of the way Federer played the game? The legacy there is more challenging to determine.He certainly has helped save or at least postpone the demise of the one-handed drive backhand, one of his most eye-catching strokes with its high, elastic finish.He adopted the shot because his boyhood coach, Peter Carter, used it and because Federer’s tennis role models — Becker, Stefan Edberg and Sampras — did so as well.Federer’s long-running success inspired the young stars Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov and Lorenzo Musetti to take up the stroke, and all are under age 25. But overall, the numbers have declined considerably since Federer’s early years on tour. Only seven men in this week’s top 100 use the one-hander, and the figures are even lower in the women’s game.Federer’s one-handed backhand was a signature shot, and inspired some imitators. But it has largely fallen out of the game.Karsten Moran for The New York Times“I am not sure Roger saved it for good,” said Ivan Ljubicic, one of Federer’s longtime coaches who rose to No. 3 in the world with a one-handed backhand. “I think there’s definitely a danger that it will disappear eventually.”“For me, I felt it was a weapon,” Ljubicic added. “But I did feel kind of a disadvantage on the return. I think that’s really where you feel the two-hander is a big advantage because you can hold the forehand grip with the right hand and the backhand grip with the left so it’s much easier to react and hit the ball.”Ljubicic said the two-handed backhand took over as the game became faster because it is easier to adjust grips using two hands. But there are advantages to the one-hander Federer used. “You can hit the ball harder, crazy as that might sound,” he said. “And you usually have better slices and volleys if you use the one-hander all the time.”Federer has helped popularize the tweener: the back-to-the-net, between-the-legs shot. He has done the same for the open-stance sliced “squash shot” on the forehand side. But he hardly invented those strokes, and his true innovation — the SABR (Sneak Attack By Roger) in which he dashed forward to half volley a service return and rush the net — has yet to go mainstream.Craig O’Shannessy, a leading tennis analytics expert, thinks Federer helped to keep “serve and volley on life support” although he used the tactic sparingly, even on grass, after his early years. Peter Smith, who coached Peter Carter in Carter’s youth, believes Federer’s deft use of the short slice to bring volley-challenged players forward was also a rare but influential tactic.Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst and former leading player and coach, thinks one of Federer’s legacies is cementing the so-called “plus-one forehand” as a core approach.“He’s the greatest I’ve ever seen at serving wide and then next ball into the open court, you were toast,” Gilbert said. “He did that so often with those one-two punches that I think he opened a lot of guys’ and girls’ eyes to wow, that’s really important to have.”Federer’s style on the court is so demanding that few players are capable of emulating it.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesNadal certainly did that as well, and both Federer and Nadal have loved to run around their backhands and hit an inside-out forehand to take control of a rally.Federer has long mentored or practiced with talented Swiss prospects and intends to keep at it in retirement, but for now no next-wave Swiss men’s star has emerged in the wide wake of Federer and his compatriot Stan Wawrinka, who won three major singles titles and helped Federer win the Davis Cup for Switzerland in 2014.Part of the challenge in mimicking Federer is that his style of play is so demanding.“He does things other guys just aren’t comfortable trying to do. He literally is playing six inches behind the baseline against these guys who are absolutely crushing balls with these rackets and strings and he’s picking up balls on the rise, virtually half-volleying them off the baseline, and is still able to control and dictate play. Most guys look at that and say, ‘I could never play like that,’” Brad Stine, who coaches Tommy Paul, said in a recent interview. “I’ve described Roger sometimes as being the most stubborn player in tennis, because he just won’t give ground. It’s really high-risk tennis but his feet are so good and his eyes are so good that he just won’t give in.”Grigor Dimitrov was long one of the few who tried to model their game on Federer’s. But Dimitrov, 31, has not managed to make the leap to major champion. Alcaraz, the Spanish prodigy, just did it at age 19 by winning the U.S. Open and rising to No. 1. Federer was his biggest role model, and Alcaraz’s all-court improvisational ability, next-gear power, fabulous movement, yen to attack the net and ability to hit winners from just about anywhere certainly do feel familiar, even without a one-handed backhand and with a better drop shot.“You have to be extremely explosive and have to move extremely well to be able to play Roger’s kind of tennis,” Ljubicic said. “And Carlos is the first player that is able to even try to play that way, and I’m happy to see he’s doing it, because it is spectacular, literally one highlight after the other. I hope he can keep it up, even if he can’t go as long as Roger did, because I see a lot of people and kids getting excited.”Federer’s biggest tennis legacy will likely not be tactical or technical. Having played until 41 and having returned to No. 1 at age 36, he has extended the timeline in men’s tennis, managing his schedule and fitness training with great forethought. He has set an example with his interpersonal skills, as well, which have helped him attract (and keep) sponsors as well as fans worldwide.Federer’s dedication to Team Europe at the Laver Cup will likely see him come back in future years as a captain.James Hill for The New York Times“I think people will use not only Roger, but Rafa, as a way to go about things,” Roddick said. “A way to treat people, especially on the heels of other all-time greats of tennis who were edgy or prickly or reclusive or you didn’t feel like you got a whole view of them. But Roger and Rafa, you feel you got that whole view, so it’s probably easier to point to them after the fact as the way it should be. But it also creates kind of an insane expectation.”After a very emotional Friday night, only Nadal is active of that duo, though like Federer he will not play in the rest of this Laver Cup. Nadal, whose wife is expecting their first child, announced he was withdrawing for personal reasons on Saturday.And while Federer watches the competition from the sideline this weekend, Team Europe will try to maintain their unbeaten streak in the event Federer helped create. The one that will be known from now on as the event he used to say farewell. More

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      Federer, Even in Defeat, Gets Fitting End to Storied Career

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      The last match of Roger Federer’s 24-year professional career was about to begin, and Andy Murray, one of his rivals turned teammates at this Laver Cup in London, kept his advice short and sweet.“Enjoy it,” Murray said.Federer, 41, took that to heart on Friday night: acknowledging the roars and support of the sellout crowd in the O2 Arena; smiling often and cracking jokes with his doubles partner Rafael Nadal as they lost to Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock, 4-6, 7-6 (2), (11-9). The decider after the teams split sets was a 10-point tiebreaker rather than a third set.His Final Bow! 😭 @rogerfederer plays the final match of his career with Nadal and fought hard, but ultimately Team World wins, 4-6, 7-6, 11-9.#LaverCup pic.twitter.com/CQrAVfr7cu— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) September 23, 2022
      The tone, as so often with Federer, seemed just right, and there were of course tears when it was over from a champion who has so often given free rein to his emotions — in victory or defeat — after keeping them tightly under wraps with the ball in play. What underscored the special circumstances on Friday were the emotions that others were feeling: the thousands in the arena, including Federer’s family and friends, and perhaps most poignantly, Nadal, a much less lachrymose champion who appeared every bit as inconsolable as his friend and doubles partner as the tears streamed down his face.“A lot of years, sharing a lot of things together,” Nadal said. “When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving, too.”But Federer made it clear that he had received what he had hoped for on Friday, even in defeat.“It’s been a wonderful day,” Federer said. “I told the guys I’m happy, I’m not sad. I enjoyed tying my shoes one more time. Everything was the last time.”With a suspect right knee, he could have ended his great career in many a manner and many a venue, but he chose to emphasize the collective: forgoing an individual tour event like Wimbledon or his home city stop in Basel, Switzerland, and opting instead for this team event partly of his own creation.“I didn’t want it to feel lonely out there,” Federer said. “I always felt I was a team player at heart.”James Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesHe could have tried one more singles match. Instead, he chose to play doubles with Nadal, settling on the opening night of this three-day event to avoid stealing too much thunder from the Laver Cup’s homestretch.“It does feel like a celebration. It’s exactly what I wanted at the end, exactly what I hoped for,” he said, wiping tears away in his post-match interview with the crowd applauding him supportively to help him through it.The gallery in London included his wife, Mirka, and four children and his parents, Robert and Lynette, as well as members past and present of his support team: from former No. 1 Stefan Edberg to his current coaches Severin Lüthi and Ivan Ljubicic.Roger Federer’s Farewell to Professional TennisThe Swiss tennis player leaves the game with one of the greatest competitive records in history.An Appraisal: “He has, figuratively and literally, re-embodied men’s tennis, and for the first time in years, the game’s future is unpredictable,” the author David Foster Wallace wrote of Roger Federer in 2006.A Poignant Send-Off: Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, will offer a sensible final act for one of the greatest players of this era.Two Great Rivals: When players retire from individual sports like tennis, their rivalries go with them. Here is a look at some of the best matches that pitted Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.Tennis After Federer: The Swiss player, along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, helped define a remarkably durable period in men’s tennis history. Following behind is a new generation of hungry players, ready to muscle their way into the breach.“She could have stopped me a long time ago, but she didn’t,” Federer said of Mirka, a former tour player whom he has long called “my rock.”Mirka Federer, like Federer’s fitness trainer Pierre Paganini, has been instrumental in Federer pushing the boundaries of enduring tennis excellence and playing, like Serena Williams, another departing megastar, across four decades.But the strong emotions on Friday were not restricted to the grand setting and the fanfare, to the series of standing ovations and Federer banners that read, “Forever our No. 1,” to the extended, tender embrace between Federer and Lüthi shortly before Federer took the court.The tennis turned out to be diverting, too, which was no guarantee considering that Federer had not played a public match of any kind in the nearly 15 months since he slumped out of Wimbledon in 2021 with a straight-set defeat in the quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz, which included a 6-0 final set.Unable to fully recover from his latest knee surgery, he said he was uncertain even a few weeks ago that he would be able to play at all. A ceremonial adieu on Friday night against the Team World doubles team of Sock and Tiafoe would have been understandable, but Federer managed rather more than that. The first ball he struck in the match was a winner: a reflex forehand volley. And though he mistimed a groundstroke or two and looked uncharacteristically slow off the mark when it came time to sprint for a short ball, he certainly gave the public quite a bit of what they paid from far and wide for.James Hill for The New York TimesKin Cheung/Associated Press“Playing doubles is more difficult than singles, because you don’t always get into a rhythm, but he’s done very well,” said Martina Navratilova, the tennis great who retired at 49 as a doubles specialist and was calling the farewell match for Tennis Channel. “It’s easier to come back when you have such good technique, and there’s not really anything to go wrong.”There has been a grace and purity to Federer’s game since he joined the tour in the late 1990s and was still losing his temper and serve on a regular basis.But he soon solved his anger management issues and kicked into a new gear: one that no rival could match consistently until Nadal emerged as an unstoppable force on clay and a major threat on every other surface, as well. Djokovic joined the lead pack in earnest in the 2010s and was unquestionably the player of that decade, turning men’s tennis into a Big Three with a strong supporting cast that included Murray and Stan Wawrinka, who each won three major singles titles.Federer finished with 20, third best in this golden age behind Nadal’s 22 and Djokovic’s 21.It was affirming to see them all sharing slaps on the back and tactical tips on Friday night as part of Team Europe.The Big Three have shared many a locker room and board room through the decades, but this was the first time they had all been teammates. The edge was off for a night, which turned into a late night with the match finishing at 12:26 a.m., even if the comparing and contrasting will continue for many years.Nadal has the Grand Slam title lead for now, and Djokovic looks like he has total weeks at No. 1 wrapped up for good with 373, well ahead of Federer’s 310. But Federer still has his strongholds. He finished with 103 tour singles titles, second only to Jimmy Connors’s 109 in the Open era for men. Federer also finished with eight Wimbledon singles titles, the all-time men’s record. His total of six year-end championships is another record, and two of those ATP Finals, fittingly, were won in the O2 Arena.James Hill for The New York TimesLewis Storey/Getty Images For Laver CupFederer grew up in Basel playing frequently indoors, often on red clay under temporary inflated bubbles in the wintertime. He is an attacking player at heart, most at home tight to the baseline and striking the ball remarkably early off the bounce. Andre Agassi once summed up the experience of facing Federer by explaining that there was no “safe haven”: no place to place a shot where danger did not lurk.That concept still made sense on Friday night, even after Federer had been out of action for more than a year and even if his 41 years and aching knees clearly limit his movement. He amiably mocked his new slowness afoot on the final changeover as he spoke with his teammates between sips of water after he had failed to track down a forehand to convert his and Nadal’s first and only match point during the closing tiebreaker.But the shotmaking was still there, even if the feathery footwork was not. Down the stretch, he hit big forehand returns, touch volleys and even a trademark loose-armed ace up the T. He also spun his racket before returning, blew on the fingers of his right hand and hopped after winners with delight and closure, albeit not quite as high as in his heyday.All that was missing was a victory, but then there have been so many of those through the years. And if you choose to search for symbolism, it was not entirely off key for Federer to go out in defeat.He has been a big winner, no doubt, capable of dominating the game from 2004 to 2007 and roaring back for a renaissance in 2017 and 2018. But he has also had to absorb some crushing defeats on the game’s grandest stages, which has certainly contributed to making him a more relatable champion.James Hill for The New York TimesAnd yet Friday was not a night for the score line, but for the bottom line, and Sock did as good a job as anyone at articulating it as he embraced Federer at the net.“Appreciate you,” Sock said, just before they parted ways and Federer turned left and headed toward the rest of his life.The words were not what spoke most eloquently, however. The real power was in the expressions: above all in the eyes of Nadal. If a man’s archrival will miss him that much, how should the rest of us feel?Andrew Das More

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      Meet Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock

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      Here’s a 22nd century tennis trivia question: “Who was Roger Federer’s last opponent?”Trick answer. There were two: Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.Sock and Tiafoe, both Americans, are definitely the supporting actors in Friday night’s Federer-centric farewell production. But they pose a real threat to Federer going out on a high note.Sock, in particular, has played a lot more doubles in recent years than Federer or his superstar partner, Rafael Nadal, who have long focused almost exclusively on singles.Sock, 29, has a glittering 205-96 career record in doubles and has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. He recently won the title in Washington, D.C., with partner Nick Kyrgios and just helped the United States Davis Cup team advance to the quarterfinals by partnering with Rajeev Ram to win two crucial matches.Federer and Nadal have both won gold medals at the Olympics in men’s doubles. Sock’s gold came in mixed doubles in 2016 with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. But unlike Federer or Nadal, Sock has won Grand Slam doubles titles: three in men’s doubles and one in mixed doubles.Sock has a big serve, an imposing forehand with an extreme grip and fabulous touch and reflexes at the net. Despite his solid frame and sometimes sleepy gaze, he also is very quick, which means that he and the speedy Tiafoe will be able to close a lot of gaps in a hurry tonight against Federer and Nadal.But though Tiafoe, 24, just broke through to reach the semifinals in singles this month at the U.S. Open, he could be the weak link in this match. He has yet to win a doubles title on tour and has a losing career record of 23-39.Tiafoe, an extrovert with a flashy game, does like a big occasion and an electric crowd, however, as he proved again in New York this year. He certainly seemed relaxed in the run-up.“I’m just excited to play two up-and-comers tomorrow,” Tiafoe joked on Thursday.Sock already has played those up-and-comers in doubles at the Laver Cup, losing with partner Sam Querrey in 2017 to Federer and Nadal in their first-ever official match together.For Tiafoe, given the circumstances, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. More

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      Climate Activist Sets Himself on Fire at the Laver Cup

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      LONDON — A protester set fire to his arm after running onto the court during a match on Friday at the Laver Cup tennis competition, stunning the capacity crowd at London’s O2 Arena and briefly setting fire to the playing surface.Wearing a white T-shirt reading “End UK Private Jets,” the protester, a young man, appeared on the court during the afternoon singles match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman. Sitting down near the net on Schwartzman’s side of the court, the man briefly set fire to his right arm, and to the court, as security officials ran toward him.A man has set his arm on fire after invading the court at the Laver Cup on Roger Federer’s last day as a professional tennis player. pic.twitter.com/g0LcBU8PeJ— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) September 23, 2022
      The protester appeared to immediately regret the decision to set fire to himself, and quickly put out the flames with his left hand while a small fire burned on the court next to him. A staff member smothered the on-court fire with a suit jacket while the protester calmly waited to be removed.Once the fire was out, and with Schwartzman keeping a safe distance, three security guards carried the man off the court to a chorus of boos from the crowd.“He came out of nowhere,” Tsitsipas said. “I have no idea what this was about. I’ve never had this happen in a match before. I hope he’s all right.”The man did not seem to be seriously injured.Disrupting high-profile sporting events has become an increasingly common tactic by environmental activists in Europe over the past year, and some have succeeded in drawing attention to their causes in a variety of ways, including attaching themselves to goal posts at Premier League soccer matches; breaching the court at the French Open tennis championships; and blocking the path of cycling’s Tour de France.The incident at the Laver Cup appeared to leave the court undamaged, and play resumed after a brief delay. Tsitsipas went on to defeat Schwartzman in straight sets. More

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      Federer-Nadal Rivalry Ends in a Doubles Match Partnership

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      One of the greatest rivalries in tennis history will end in harmony on Friday when Roger Federer plays his final competitive match with Rafael Nadal as his doubles partner.The rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has been a 21st-century staple.Righty versus lefty. Panache versus perspiration. Zen vs. Vamos.Back in the day, it was the establishment versus the avant-garde, as well, but that distinction has blurred through the decades, just as the edge has softened. Many of the new-age fans whom Federer and Nadal attracted to the game might need reminding that Federer is nearly five years older than his defining rival from Majorca.That significant age gap helps explain why Federer will be the first of the golden-era gang to retire from professional tennis (even if Andy Murray came tearily close a few years back before soldiering on with an artificial hip joint). Federer turned 41 last month and will play what he insists is his final competitive match on Friday night in the Laver Cup team event in London.“Sitting here, it feels good that I go first from the guys; it just feels right,” Federer said at a news conference on Thursday, flanked by Murray, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, all his teammates for this special farewell weekend at the O2 Arena.Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Federer and Nadal once made up the Big Four of tennis, until Murray faded and the rest became the Big Three.Glyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThey were once the Big Four, with Murray serving as Ringo Starr, but they have long since become the Big Three. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have racked up 20 or more Grand Slam singles titles and won multiple majors in their 30s, often at one another’s expense.Their careers are all deeply, inextricably intertwined, and Nadal and Djokovic have actually played each other significantly more on tour than Nadal and Federer.But Fedal was the original golden-age rivalry, and if “Fedal” still sounds a bit clunky, best to consider the alternatives. “Naderer”? No gracias.Federer and Nadal first played singles in March 2004 in a night match in the third round of the Miami Open, with the 17-year-old Nadal ambushing the top-ranked Federer in little more than an hour. The final score was 6-3, 6-3.But their first match was actually the week before, when Nadal and his Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo defeated Federer and his Swiss compatriot Yves Allegro 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the round of 16 in Indian Wells, Calif.Roger Federer’s Farewell to Professional TennisThe Swiss tennis player leaves the game with one of the greatest competitive records in history.An Appraisal: “He has, figuratively and literally, re-embodied men’s tennis, and for the first time in years, the game’s future is unpredictable,” the author David Foster Wallace wrote of Roger Federer in 2006.A Poignant Send-Off: Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, will offer a sensible final act for one of the greatest players of this era.A Billion-Dollar Brand: Some tennis superstars have built sponsorship empires. But none ever wooed the corporate class as brilliantly as Federer did.Tennis After Federer: The Swiss player, along with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, helped define a remarkably durable period in men’s tennis history. Following behind is a new generation of hungry players, ready to muscle their way into the breach.For those like me who like their symmetry, it feels rather neat and tidy that Fedal will end back on the doubles court, as they partner each other, creaky knees willing, on Friday night for Team Europe against Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock of Team World.“Different kind of pressure,” Nadal said of the occasion. “After all the amazing things that we shared together on and off the court, to be part of this historic moment is going to be something amazing, unforgettable for me. Super excited. I hope I can have a good chance to play at a decent level, and hopefully together we can create a good moment and maybe win a match. So, let’s see.”Victory is hardly guaranteed. Sock, whose whipping forehand has even more topspin than Nadal’s or Federer’s, is one of the world’s best doubles players, and Tiafoe, his fellow American, is still on a high after making a breakthrough run to the semifinals of this month’s U.S. Open in singles.“Obviously tomorrow night is going to be a beyond-iconic evening,” Sock said on Thursday. “I’m just stoked to be a part of it with my guy Foe next to me. We will go out and enjoy the moment, but not going to hold anything back. Sorry, Roger. Don’t want to spoil the night.”Perhaps Sock needs to be reminded that Federer is a co-owner of this event, launched in 2017 to create a tennis version of golf’s Ryder Cup and establish a more solid bridge between the generations, with captains John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg on opposite benches and Rod Laver as the namesake.But Federer, who wants the Laver Cup to be taken seriously even though it awards no ranking points, would surely have no quarrel with Sock and Tiafoe going full throttle. And it is honestly hard to imagine anything spoiling the night other than Federer limping around the O2, unable to cover his half of the court.Nobody is up for that, even if Federer is smartly trying to manage expectations.Bjorn Borg, Europe’s Laver Cup captain, with Federer on Thursday.Andrew Boyers/Action Images Via ReutersWhen Borg, Team Europe’s silver-maned captain, was asked about his squad on Thursday, his answer was: “Everybody is healthy. They are ready to play.”Federer quickly interjected: “Medium healthy.”Not prepared to play one more singles match because of his postoperative knees, Federer chose doubles as the safer option, but this will still be his first competitive match in more than 14 months.There will be rust, and then there will be the emotions, his and his public’s, and as the thousands of fans present for Thursday’s open practice session made clear, there will be noise.Ivan Ljubicic, one of Federer’s longtime coaches, took it all in courtside and started to tear up, and he is not even playing.“I’m not sure if I can handle it all; I’ll try,” Federer said. “I have had some tougher moments as well in the past, you know, being horribly nervous all these years sometimes before matches. This one definitely feels a whole lot different.”It’s different in part because his co-tormenters-in-chief, Nadal and Djokovic, are teammates this time.“I am super excited to have them on our team and my team and not having to play against them on my last match,” Federer said.It certainly has lightened the mood in the prelude.On Thursday, Djokovic was asked which of his previous battles with Federer first came to mind.Djokovic gallantly began with the 2007 U.S. Open final against Federer.Djokovic: “I lost that match.”Federer: “He’s being nice now. Thank you, Novak.”Djokovic: “I haven’t finished.”There was laughter, and he soon got around to mentioning the 2019 Wimbledon final, in which Federer had two match points on his serve in the fifth set but was unable to close it out. (Djokovic gallantly did not go into these details either.)“What happened?” Federer asked. “I’ve blocked it out.”There was more laughter, which has certainly not been the rule among men’s tennis rivals over the past couple of decades. So many major titles have been at stake so often as they pushed each other on the match court and, in their quieter moments, on the practice court.They all became better because of that daily pressure, and Federer and Nadal concluded long ago that they had more reach as a pair than on their own.Fedal’s best singles matches have been some of the best content of the new century: the 2006 Italian Open final won by Nadal, the 2007 Wimbledon final won by Federer, the pièce de résistance 2008 Wimbledon final won in near darkness by Nadal, the 2017 Australian Open final won by Federer after both had come back from extended injury layoffs.The backlist is strong, too, even if they, frustratingly for us symmetrical sorts, never played at the U.S. Open. And though Nadal will forever lead the series 24-16, Federer can glide into the sunset (and toward their future exhibition matches) with his strong chin held high after winning six of their last seven encounters.“Through time, we’ve left behind a bit of that hard-core rivalry on court for a rivalry that we both value and understand has been part of something special within the world of sport,” Nadal once told me. “And I think we also understand that both of us have benefited from it, and we have to take care of it.”On Friday night, on the same side of the net at the end of an era, they can take care of each other. More