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      As Roger Federer Retires, Two Great Rivalries Come to an End

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      A look at the great matches between Federer and Rafael Nadal as well as Federer and Novak Djokovic.Baseball has the Yankees and Red Sox. Soccer has F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid. College football has Michigan and Ohio State.Over the past two decades, men’s tennis has had Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and also Federer and Novak Djokovic. In team sports, rosters change year by year and the rivalries endure. But when players retire in individual sports like tennis, their rivalries go with them.Such is the case for Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam champion, and his rivalries with Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, and Djokovic, who has 21 Grand Slam titles.As the eldest of what has become known as the Big Three in men’s tennis, Federer, 41, made his debut on the pro tour earlier than Djokovic and Nadal. Federer turned pro in 1998 and won his first Grand Slam title in 2003 at Wimbledon. Nadal, 36, turned pro in 2001 and won his first Grand Slam title in 2005 at the French Open, and Djokovic, 35, turned pro in 2003 and won his first Grand Slam title in 2008 at the Australian Open.Jon Wertheim, a Tennis Channel commentator and sports journalist, said the younger Nadal and Djokovic had more time to prepare for how to beat Federer.“By virtue of being first, he could not tailor his game for how to beat them,” Wertheim said of Federer. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for raising the bar. He will finish third in majors won, but there’s a huge disadvantage that comes with being first.”In the end, Federer played Nadal 40 times from their first match against each other in the round of 32 at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami in 2004 (which Nadal won) to their most recent match, a Wimbledon semifinal in 2019 (which Federer won). Federer beat Nadal 16 times; Nadal won 24 times.Federer and Djokovic played in 50 matches against each other. Starting with their first match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monaco (which Federer won) to their most recent match, a semifinal at the Australian Open in 2020 (which Djokovic won), Djokovic came out slightly ahead, winning 27 matches to Federer’s 23.David Law, a commentator and co-host of “The Tennis Podcast,” said the rivalries made all three players better over time.“One would gain the upper hand, the other was forced to adapt,” Law said. “Federer doesn’t develop the smashed backhand drive down the line if Nadal doesn’t force him into taking it early to avoid the high backhand off the back foot. Djokovic doesn’t develop his serve with the help of Goran Ivanisevic if Federer isn’t all over him trying to half volley the return and charge in.”The rivalries made for some epic matches. Here is a look at some of the best between Federer and Nadal, and Federer and Djokovic:Nadal vs. Federer, 2008 Wimbledon finalFor many fans, the 2008 Wimbledon men’s final will go down as one of the best matches in the history of tennis. Going into the final that year, Federer had won five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, including two against Nadal, in 2006 and 2007.Played on Centre Court, which did not yet have a roof, the match was delayed twice because of rain, pushing it closer and closer to darkness. The match went to tiebreakers in the third and fourth sets. In the fourth set, Federer saved two match points, and in the fifth set, he was two points away from winning his sixth consecutive Wimbledon final.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.Finally, at 9:16 p.m. local time, after 4 hours 48 minutes, Federer hit a forehand into the net. Nadal collapsed onto the grass with his first Wimbledon title, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7.Federer said after the match that it was “probably my hardest loss, by far; I mean it’s not much harder than this right now.”“He played a super match, and I’m sure it was a great match to watch and to play, but it’s all over now,” Federer said. “I need some time.”Nadal vs. Federer, 2009 Australian Open finalFederer and Nadal met again the next year at the Australian Open final in 2009. Again, the two played five sets in a match that lasted more than four hours. In the end, Nadal defeated Federer, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2, stopping Federer at least temporarily from matching Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles.The intense match is also remembered for its emotional ending. After the match, a devastated Federer struggled to speak during the trophy ceremony.“God, it’s killing me,” he said before breaking into tears.After lifting his trophy, Nadal walked back to Federer and put his arm around him and put his head to Federer’s, appearing to console him. Federer pulled himself together and walked back to the microphone.“I don’t want to have the last word; this guy deserves it,” Federer said. “So, Rafa, congratulations. You played incredible. You deserve it, man.”Djokovic vs. Federer, 2014 Wimbledon finalLaw said that while the 2008 Wimbledon final will be remembered as a standout match, “the best rivalry was the one between Federer and Djokovic.”They met in the Wimbledon final in 2014. By then, Federer had seven Wimbledon titles, and Djokovic had one. The final went to five sets, with tiebreakers in the first and third sets.At 4-5, Federer was serving with the game at 40-15 in Djokovic’s favor. Trying to return one of Djokovic’s forehand shots, Federer’s iconic one-handed backhand failed him, as he hit the ball into the net, losing the match, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4.“Winning or losing, it’s always something special and something you’ll remember, even more so when the match was as dramatic as it was today,” Federer said after the match. “It’s even more memorable when I see my kids there with my wife and everything. That’s what touched me the most, to be quite honest. The disappointment of the match itself went pretty quickly.”Nadal vs. Federer, 2017 Australian Open finalFederer, then 35, entered the Australian Open in 2017 after some considerable time off in 2016 because of a knee injury. Federer reached the final and defeated Nadal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. The win was Federer’s first major title since Wimbledon in 2012 and the first time he had beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 2007.Like in the 2008 Wimbledon final, when Nadal and Federer played, Law said that “neither could pick on a specific weakness.”“It became a sharpshooter’s matchup full of shotmaking, attack and counterattack,” Law said.Though it was a meaningful win for Federer, the match ended in a less than ideal manner. Serving while up, 5-3, in the final set, and after a small flurry of line challenges, Federer hit a forehand to Nadal’s right on a championship point. The ball was called in, but Nadal immediately raised a finger and challenged, arguing that the ball was out.The players anxiously waited for the official review of the shot, which confirmed that the ball was in and had hit the line. Federer immediately threw his arms into the air and leaped in celebration.“Of course, it’s slightly awkward to win this way,” Federer said after the match. “Nevertheless, emotions poured out of me. I was incredibly happy.”Djokovic vs. Federer, 2019 Wimbledon finalThe Wimbledon final in 2019 will go down as Federer’s last appearance in a Grand Slam final. To reach it, Federer beat Nadal in four sets in the semifinal. The final turned out to be another marathon, five sets in 4 hours 57 minutes. The final set lasted just over two hours by itself. In the end, Djokovic beat Federer, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3).Djokovic saved two match points on Federer’s serve, then won in a final-set tiebreaker that was the first of its kind for a Wimbledon final.After the match, Djokovic said he thought Federer had commanded most of the match.“I was defending,” Djokovic said. “He was dictating the play. I just tried to fight and find a way when it mattered the most, which is what happened.”Federer said there were some similarities to the Wimbledon final in 2008 when he lost to Nadal.“I just feel like it’s such an incredible opportunity missed, I can’t believe it,” Federer said. More

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      Taylor Fritz Almost Beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The Loss Still Hurts.

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      He had beaten Nadal earlier this year to win his first ATP Masters 1000 and is now representing Team World for the first time since 2019.Taylor Fritz leaned across the long table, his cheeks cupped in his hands, his face flushed with exhaustion and emotion.It was not long after Fritz had lost a four-hour, 21-minute Wimbledon quarterfinal to Rafael Nadal in July — a match that featured a fifth-set super tiebreaker in addition to a medical timeout to tend to Nadal’s torn abdominal muscle — and the magnitude of Fritz’s heartbreak engulfed the room.“I really, really wanted this match,” Fritz said at the time. “I was sitting there and felt like crying. I’ve never felt like that after a loss.”Six weeks later, the loss still stung.“Those kinds of matches hurt the most to lose,” Fritz said by phone just before the start of the United States Open. “It was my first major quarterfinal, so I had to take a step back and look at the positives. I was so close, so maybe next time I’ll get it.”Taylor Fritz lost in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon to Rafael Nadal in July. The match went to a super tiebreaker in the final fifth set.Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressFritz has been highly thought of since he won the Junior U.S. Open in 2015. His mother, Kathy May, was ranked No. 10 in the world in 1977 and his father, Guy, is a coach.This year has been up and down for Fritz. The Californian, 24, is the top-ranked American male and No. 12 in the world. In March, he won his first ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, beating Nadal in the final.But just when he thought he was on track to win a major, Fritz was upset in the first round of the U.S. Open by the qualifier Brandon Holt, ranked No. 303 at the time. Fritz has also been nursing an ankle injury but is confident it won’t be an issue when he plays for Team World at the Laver Cup, which begins on Friday in London.The following conversation has been edited and condensed.The last time you played Laver Cup, in 2019, you lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas and beat Dominic Thiem. What brought you back now?I would have played every single year if I was invited to be on the team. It’s an honor to represent Team World and it’s such a fun, amazing event. Just the energy, it’s tough to find at anything like the team competition.What will it be like playing against Team Europe? It’s a pretty stacked team, with Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Casper Ruud and Tsitsipas.I look forward to it. I think that on any given day I can beat anybody, and that’s what the team is going to be asking of me, so I’m ready.You’ve talked a lot about innate confidence. Where does that come from?It’s just something I’ve always had. I’ve always felt that how can you ever succeed and be the best if you don’t believe that?Do you have a sports idol outside of tennis?Yeah, a big role model of mine is [the soccer star Cristiano] Ronaldo. His work ethic really made me a fan.Who would your ideal mixed doubles partner be?I suppose I’d have to say my mom.What’s the most important thing she taught you?Probably just to have fun with it and not take everything so seriously. My dad was much more into all the coaching and tennis stuff. My mom was more relaxed about it all.In terms of coaching, the smarter players are the ones who want to figure it out for themselves. Do you put yourself in that category?Absolutely, when it comes to being analytical and strategic on the court and figuring out what the opponent is doing, I feel like my tennis I.Q. is really high. I think it’s one of my best assets.You were 18 when you got married and had a son very young. Does Jordan understand who you are and what you do?Yeah, he’s 5 and he knows what I do. He’s pretty disappointed when I tell him that I’m actually not the best tennis player in the world. He kind of expects that, so it’s tough to impress him. More

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      The Tennis Player’s Dilemma: Play It Safe, or Go For Broke?

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      Shot by shot, players have to decide whether to just blast away or use more finesse.Tennis players must constantly make tactical decisions about the best way to win a point. It starts with where to put the serve and how hard to hit it, but once the rally starts the question often becomes whether a player should aim for the lines or hit the ball hard to a safer target with more margin for error.Choosing right is especially vital in a close match when the stakes are high and the opponent is one of the world’s best players, as they will be at the Laver Cup.The best tactical approach, players and analysts say, requires a mix of both styles.“It depends on your strengths, your opponent and the situation in the match,” said Patrick McEnroe, Team World’s vice captain. “That’s what makes it so interesting at this event. Every match is against top players, and you have to weigh all three of those things.”That’s not so simple. Anyone who watched Carlos Alcaraz in the United States Open knows the sport’s new king (who isn’t at the Laver Cup) will run, run, run in endless rallies but also happily goes for broke anytime and from any place on the court; superb players like Team Europe’s Caspar Ruud and Frances Tiafoe of Team World tried matching him for hours and fell short.“When Tiafoe got a midcourt ball, he probably thought, ‘I have to hit it closer to the line’ than he would against, say, Fabio Fognini,” who is ranked at No. 55, McEnroe said.Frances Tiafoe in action against Carlos Alcaraz in their semifinal match at the U.S. Open. Tiafoe is playing for Team World in the Laver Cup.Karsten Moran for The New York TimesElite players like Roger Federer and Andy Murray in their prime might have hit defensive backhands against a go-for-broke shot — not weak but defensive, with the intent to neutralize — but McEnroe said the U.S. Open showdown between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner featured two players “hitting hugely aggressive shots and going toe-to-toe, point after point.”Often, however, big moments in big matches against top opponents prompts an adjustment. Tennis is a confidence game, said Jimmy Arias, a Tennis Channel analyst. Players like Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams in her prime would nail the lines in big moments simply because they believed they’d win and therefore played more relaxed.For contrast, he points to his 1983 U.S. Open quarterfinal victory over Yannick Noah, who had won the French Open that year. When Noah, down 5-6 in the fifth set, double faulted at 15-30 and missed his first serve on match point, Arias, who hadn’t broken serve in over two sets, saw an opportunity.“I know 100 percent he’s going to do a safe serve, and I’ll be able to run around and hit a forehand,” recalled Arias, who was 19 at the time. “In a normal match, I’d have been confident and would’ve gone for a winner. But I’d never been to the semis of a major, and I wanted it so badly.”So Arias decided to play it safe and hit hard up the middle, granting himself a margin for error. “I was so anxious I hit the ball way out in front,” he said. Had he aimed for the sidelines, the shot would have landed way out, but because he played it safe, the misfire “ended up being an angle winner.”The right approach is often determined by the player’s outlook. “Young players sometimes do too much on points when they’re playing the best guys, who always have a mental advantage. If you are playing [Rafael] Nadal or Djokovic or Federer you tend to think, ‘I have to do something extra,” said Bjorn Borg, captain of Team Europe.Borg advocates for starting tougher matches by hitting big to safer spots “to get a feel for the match” before becoming more ambitious; if a player starts missing the lines midmatch, they should retreat to safer shots for a few games to regain their rhythm and feel.McEnroe said that a player like Diego Schwartzman of Team World knows he “must play out of his comfort zone or he won’t have a chance,” but that aiming for perfection straight away means “you can hit yourself out of the match early, so you don’t want to give your opponent too much respect early on.”But, Arias said, it gets tougher mentally to go for the lines as sets continue, especially in a tournament like the Laver Cup, “when it feels like all the opponents are better than you,” he said. “There’s extra tension at 5-5 or 6-6, so you may not come up with the shot.”Playing Andre Agassi late in his career, Arias reached 4-4, but Agassi was playing every point safe while Arias was going for broke and realized he had no chance: “I couldn’t do it forever.” Arias lost the set and the match.Ruud said that the nicks and dings of life on the tennis tour were also a factor. “I try to play my game against top players,” but added, “If I’m hurting I’ll take more risks, while if I’m feeling strong I’ll try wearing my opponent out.”Alcaraz on his way to winning the Open final against Caspar Ruud. Karsten Moran for The New York TimesA fitter and quicker player can be more patient and try to force errors. The first of Alcaraz’s five-set Open wins came over Marin Cilic, who is fit but 14 years older and without Alcaraz’s blazing speed. “I have no doubt Cilic was trying to play more aggressively because of that,” McEnroe said.Nick Kyrgios, who played in the first four Laver Cups, said that he preferred going for broke, especially at the biggest moments.“I like low-percentage tennis,” said Kyrgios, who landed two risky cross-court short-angle forehand winners down 0-30 at 4-4 in the fourth set of his second-round win at this year’s U.S. Open. “My strength on the tennis court is my unpredictability. Why wouldn’t I just go for it?”But Arias noted that in the next round, against the young, big-hitting J.J. Wolf, Kyrgios switched gears, hitting safer shots and letting Wolf make mistakes. “You could see the light turn on in Nick’s head during the match,” he said.Shifting gears is easier said than done, of course, especially in the middle of a match. “It can make sense to switch,” McEnroe said, “but against the top-level players all of those decisions become magnified.” More

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      At the Laver Cup, Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray Make Team Europe Formidable

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      Team World has never won the cup, and now it will face the rare dream team of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and the retiring Roger Federer.When he announced his retirement from professional tennis last week, Roger Federer put a cap on one of the most storied careers in the sport. That he chose to end competitive play at the Laver Cup, the Ryder Cup-style event that he and his management team founded in 2017 as a chummy atmosphere of star players to showcase great tennis, speaks volumes.He will say goodbye to his fans while competing alongside his greatest rivals — Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — demonstrating just how important the Laver Cup, which starts on Friday in London, is and will continue to be for Federer.“This is a bittersweet decision because I will miss everything the tour has given me,” he said on Twitter on Sept. 15. “But at the same time there is so much to celebrate. I consider myself one of the most fortunate people on Earth. I was given a special talent to play tennis, and I did it at a level that I never imagined, for much longer than I ever thought possible.”The Big Four, as they have been known, have faced off countless times at Grand Slam events, but never have they been teamed together, until this weekend when they form the nucleus of Team Europe in the Laver Cup.Those four players have been formidable. Between them, they have won 329 ATP titles over the last two decades. They have amassed 66 major championships, including 19 at Wimbledon, 17 at both the Australian and French Opens and 13 at the United States Open. They have won more than 4,000 matches and earned nearly half a billion dollars in prize money.Novak Djokovic, left, and Andy Murray, will also play for Team Europe. This is the first time the four players, who have won a total of 66 major championships, have all played together on a team.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesEvery year since 2004, one of them has ended the season ranked No. 1 in the world. Federer, the oldest at 41, won his first match in September 1998 just after his 17th birthday, when he beat Guillaume Raoux in Toulouse, France.“Let me first say, this is legendary,” said a grinning Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is ranked No. 6 in the world and is playing in the Laver Cup for the third straight time. “This team is a joke. This is Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls.”When the Laver Cup started, Federer said at the time, “We need to see the legends of our sport more frequently, who we’d like to thank. It’s not just the players standing on court today, there’s so many more that have paved the way for us so we can enjoy playing in front of a crowd like this, earn a living and live our dream. All of us, all we wanted to do all our life is play tennis, and here we are.”The fifth edition of the competition will again include singles and doubles matches and also feature Casper Ruud, No. 2, and Tsitsipas for Team Europe against a contingent representing the rest of the world. Called Team World because it includes players from other parts of the globe, the team includes Taylor Fritz, No. 12; Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 13; Diego Schwartzman, No. 17; Frances Tiafoe, No. 19; Alex de Minaur, No. 22; and Jack Sock, No. 128.Tiafoe, who upset Nadal in the U.S. Open and then beat Andrey Rublev before falling in the semifinals to the eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz, is a last-minute replacement for John Isner, who fractured his left wrist at the U.S. Open.The captain of Team Europe is the six-time French Open, five-time U.S. Open champion Bjorn Borg. Leading Team World, which has lost every year since the event’s inception, is the seven-time major winner John McEnroe.“I love being part of this event in any way, shape or form,” said McEnroe, an ESPN commentator. “Just seeing my buddy Bjorn on the other side. Obviously, my days are getting numbered because my record isn’t too good. But the law of averages states that at some point Team World can come through. Since it’s more unpredictable this year we go in with a solid puncher’s chance.”The last time Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray were in the same major tournament was the 2019 Australian Open when Djokovic won his record seventh championship.McEnroe’s uncertainty centers on the health and ages of Federer, Nadal and Murray and the lack of tournament play for Djokovic. The average age of Team Europe’s four marquee players is almost 37, while the average age of Team World is about 26.Djokovic, 35, who was barred from playing the Australian Open and the U.S. Open because of his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19, has played just seven tournaments this year. He won two of them, including Wimbledon, but his ranking has dropped to No. 7.Murray, 35, has shown stretches of brilliance this year, notably when he beat Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios en route to the final in Stuttgart in June. But he also failed to win back-to-back matches from mid-January to early May.Nadal, 36, has been hampered ever since he tore an abdominal muscle at Indian Wells in March. Then, after beating Fritz in a five-setter in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Nadal was forced to withdraw before his semifinal match against Kyrgios. He also struggles with chronic foot pain.Still, Nadal is looking forward to supporting his longtime friend Federer. Asked if he would play doubles with him, as he did in a win over Sock and Sam Querrey in 2017 — a match that featured a near midair collision and giggles between them — Nadal said he would jump at the chance. “If the captain chooses us as teammates, why not?” Nadal said with a smile.Federer will clearly be the biggest draw of the weekend. He has not competed since last year’s Wimbledon, when he lost in the quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz. Federer had knee surgery last year in August and struggled to return to the tour, prompting his decision to retire.Roger Federer played with Alexander Zverev in a doubles match at the 2019 Laver Cup.Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFederer is part owner of the Laver Cup. He missed last year’s event because of his knee, but arrived on crutches to cheers from the fans and sat on the bench encouraging Team Europe. This year he will do everything he can to play, even if it is just in doubles with Nadal.For the younger players, just being able to share the Laver Cup experience with Federer is valuable.“I’ve learned so much from these greats,” said Tsitsipas, who played doubles with Federer at the 2019 Laver Cup. “I get to share something very meaningful with them through the course of the three-day performance period. More than that, we get to connect and share great ideas on court, off court, be part of something very extraordinary for our sport.”When asked the nature of those off-court experiences, Tsitsipas deferred.“I signed an N.D.A., so I’m not allowed to share,” he said with a laugh, referring to a nondisclosure agreement.As for Ruud, who played in his first Laver Cup last year in Boston and finished second in the U.S. Open this month, just playing with the Big Four is magical.“It’s going to be so special, and a small dream come true,” Ruud said. “For all the tennis fans around the world to see the Big Four on the team together for the first time, and maybe the last time. To know that I can be a part of that team and learn from them and be around them for that week will be incredible.”“Roger has always been an inspiration to everyone,” Ruud added. “For me as well. He shows that what we thought was impossible is possible. I can’t wait to see him at the Laver Cup.” More

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      For Roger Federer, London Is a Sensible End to a Long Career

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      Wimbledon may have been more fitting. But the Laver Cup, which Federer helped create, will surely offer a poignant send-off at O2 Arena for one of the greatest male players of this era.It was in London where Roger Federer became a genuine star: strolling onto Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2001 with a ponytail and nondesigner stubble and then coolly and stylishly ending the long reign of Pete Sampras with a fourth-round upset.So, it seems fitting, or at least symmetrical, that Federer will end his competitive tennis career in London, too, playing one last doubles match in the Laver Cup on Friday night, surely alongside his friendly archrival Rafael Nadal.It of course would have been a fuller circle for Federer’s final act to have come at Wimbledon. But that would have meant playing best-of-five sets on often-slick grass, and though his spirit is still willing, his 41-year-old, postoperative knees are not.Instead, the end will come indoors at O2 Arena in a team event Federer conceived with his agent, Tony Godsick, and launched in better, healthier days in 2017, when he was in the midst of the surprising late-career revival that cemented his place among the exceptional athletes of this age or any other.Though it was far from a sure thing, he endured with excellence: breaking into the top 20 as a teenager and becoming the oldest No. 1 in the history of men’s tennis at age 36 in 2018.On Wednesday at a news conference at the O2 Arena ahead of the Laver Cup, Federer was asked how he hoped people would remember him and what made him proudest about his career.“Longevity” was the answer.“I was famous for being quite erratic at the beginning of my career,” he said. “And then to become one of the most consistent players ever is quite a shock to me, as well.”Federer said he felt back then that he could compete for any title for “15-plus years.”“That has been a privilege,” he said. “I think looking back, that has a special meaning to me because I always looked to the Michael Schumachers, Tiger Woods, all the other guys that stayed for so long at the top that I didn’t understand how they did it. Next thing you know, you’re part of that group, and it’s been a great feeling.”Federer did it with a unique blend of improvisational talent and carefully conceived structure.He had an undeniable gift for the game, including supreme hand-eye coordination and what Marc Rosset, the most successful male Swiss player before Federer, rightly identified as exceptional “processing speed” that allowed Federer more time to create great shots on the fly and then finish them with an extra flourish.But Federer also learned how to manage his time, build an excellent support team and maintain his positive energy. He scheduled judiciously and took genuine breaks from the grind of the tour while also relaxing while playing on the tour. Many an opponent can recall a pleasant chat with Federer in the locker room shortly before a match, and that he could then don his game face in an unsettling hurry.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.How He Upgraded His Game: In 2017, at age 36, Federer found himself in the midst of a late-career resurgence that was rare for any sport. Here is how he achieved it.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.In an interview in 2019, he explained his recipe for success.“As much as I take things very serious, I am very laid back, so I can really let go very quickly. I truly believe this is a secret for a lot of the players and for the young guys is to be able, when you leave the site, to say: ‘OK, I’m going to leave it behind,’” he said. “‘I still know I’m a professional tennis player, but I’m relaxing. I’m doing it my way, whatever helps me decompress.’”Federer punctuated this by clenching his left fist.“Because if you are constantly like this, that’s when you burn out,” he said, looking at his fist.Federer, by design and by embracing the process, never did burn out. Instead, his body gave out after multiple knee surgeries and long cycles of rehabilitation. He said he still had hope at Wimbledon this year, when he made a surprise appearance for a ceremony honoring the 100th anniversary of Centre Court, that he could return to play there at least “one more time.”But shortly after that emotional visit, he said he received the results of a magnetic resonance imaging scan on his right knee that made the reality clear.“I was already walking on thin ice for a long time,” he told the Swiss press this week.He called the decision “bittersweet” when he announced it last week, and then broke down the bitter and the sweet on Wednesday.“The bitterness is you always want to play forever,” he said. “I love being out on court. I love playing against the guys. I love traveling. I never really felt like it was that hard for me to do.”He said he enjoyed the winning and learned from losing.“It was all perfect,” he said. “I love my career from every angle. That’s the bitter part. The sweet part was that I know everybody has to do it at one point. Everybody has to leave the game. It’s been a great, great journey. For that, I’m really grateful.”Asked for the highlights, Federer pointed to the upset of Sampras in 2001, his first major title at Wimbledon in 2003, his first and only French Open title in 2009 and the Australian Open victory in 2017 that launched his comeback.But he knows the lowlights are intrinsically part of the story, too: defeats like the 2008 Wimbledon final against Nadal and the 2019 Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic, which as it turned out, was Federer’s last chance to win a 21st major singles title.“I’m probably famous for having some tougher losses, as well,” he said. “But then also dealing with them and seeing it as an opportunity to get better, to grow from it. I’m happy I don’t have flashbacks to tough moments in my career.” He added: “I’m happy that my brain allows me to think this way, because I know it’s not easy to push sometimes defeats and those things away.”Passed in the Grand Slam singles title count by Nadal and Djokovic, who both hold a head-to-head-edge over him, Federer is no longer an obvious pick as the greatest player of this golden era. But he was clearly that player at one stage: in 2009 when he broke Sampras’s then-existing record by winning his 15th major at Wimbledon.“Anything after that was a bonus,” he said. “Obviously the last few years have been what they have been, but I’m very happy that I was able to win another five slams from 15 on. For me it was incredible. Then I made it to over 100 titles, and all that stuff has been fantastic. Then just my longevity is something I’m very proud of. Don’t need all the records to be happy; I tell you that.”Federer addressed many topics on Wednesday in his familiar rambling English and later in French and his native Swiss-German.That polyglot performance also seemed fitting, considering that Federer has been an accessible champion, answering and generally respecting each question over the many years. He also has a fiercely private side, which helps explain how he was able to keep his retirement decision from going public for nearly two months.He could have signed off on Instagram, which did not exist when he started his career. Instead, he will play one last match in London, which certainly won’t hurt the profile of his brainchild, the Laver Cup, but also seems a reasonable way to call it a day.The O2 is sold out for all five sessions (no surprise despite the high price of entry), but opening night on Friday seems to be the must-have ticket. Win or lose — and who really cares at this stage? — there will be roars, and there will be goose bumps. And though there were surprisingly no tears from Federer on Wednesday, there should be a few of those, too. More

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      Roger Federer Says Doubles Match With Nadal Could Be His Last

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      Federer, who announced his retirement last week, hinted his final competitive tennis could come Friday. And it is likely to be alongside his longtime rival Rafael Nadal.LONDON — Once he decided his competitive career was over, Roger Federer said, it was just a matter of scripting the perfect ending.For months, he and those closest to him kept his secret. He had considered announcing his retirement before the U.S. Open, he said Wednesday, but knew he would not attend and preferred “a chance to properly say goodbye to the fans.” He had pondered doing so during the tournament, but by then Serena Williams had announced her own retirement. That meant another month of waiting.Finally, last week, Federer told the world his news: He would play one final tournament, at the Laver Cup in London this week, and that would be that. On Wednesday, he said would go out “happy” but not satisfied, and on his own terms.“I always feel sorry for players who sometimes retire on the tour, say, ‘I’m going to play one more match,’ and then at one point you stand there all alone,” he said.Federer will instead go out surrounded by the players, family, friends and fans that have meant the most to him in his career. His final match will come Friday, a one-night-only doubles appearance in which he is expected to team up with his longtime friend and foe Rafael Nadal.“I just thought,” Federer said of finishing his career in London, the city where he won a record eight Wimbledon titles, and alongside Nadal, “it was very fitting.”Federer revealed Wednesday that he had known since the summer that his career as a singles champion was finished, whether he liked it not. He was about a year into his rehabilitation from a knee injury and he could feel it was getting more difficult. He knew pushing on would take more than he was willing to give, and potentially require a surgery that he had already decided he would not accept.“At some point you sit down and go, OK, we are at an intersection here, a crossroad, and you have to take a turn,” he said. “Which way is it?“I was not willing to go in the direction of, let’s risk it all. I’m not ready for that.” He had, he said on Tuesday, “stopped believing” he could rehabilitate his latest knee injury enough to continue at a level he would accept.“I know my limitations,” Federer said. Appearing relaxed and calm in a blue blazer and white golf shirt, he appeared at ease with his decision and in control of his emotions — much to his relief, he admitted — but acknowledged that even he could not be sure how he would perform.“Obviously, I’m nervous going in, because I haven’t played in so long,” he said. “I hope it can be somewhat competitive.”Federer trained with Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday, but said Wednesday that he would play only doubles at the Laver Cup.Clive Brunskill/Getty Images For Laver CupHis pairing with Nadal may be the tournament’s worst-kept secret: Both players hinted at reprising their so-called Fedal doubles team in February when they committed to play in the Laver Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event in which competitors representing a Team Europe and a Team World square off in team play.Federer’s desire to play only doubles presented a rules problem, though; the competition rules require players to compete in at least one singles match, and his opting out required the approval of both team captains as well as tournament and ATP Tour officials, since the cup is a tour event.Federer, who helped create the Laver Cup as part of his billion-dollar business empire, said Wednesday that he had first sought the permission of the European captain, Bjorn Borg. When Borg agreed, they brought the idea to the World captain, John McEnroe, and to tour officials to ensure that his accommodation also had their approval. Federer said the Italian star Matteo Berrettini would replace him in the singles matches.Asked about reports that he was planning to team with Nadal in his own final match, though, Federer was coy since the matchups will not be confirmed until Thursday.“I don’t know if it’s going to happen,” Federer said, a white lie at best, “but I think it could be obviously a special moment.”Champions are often defined by statistics, and Federer’s rival any player in tennis history: 103 tour singles titles, 20 Grand Slam singles titles, 310 weeks ranked No. 1. He won a record eight Wimbledon championships, six more at the Australian and five at the U.S. Open in New York, where his matches drew celebrities and fellow athletes and everyday fans captivated by his elegance, his poise and his craftsmanship.In one period at the height of his career, from early 2004 to October 2008, Federer held the No. 1 ranking for an astonishing 237 weeks in a row. His two decades at the top of his sport spanned generations: Federer lost to the likes of Andre Agassi and Michael Chang as a young pro; traded shots and titles with his Laver Cup teammates Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray for years; and was called an “idol” and “inspiration” last week by the game’s rising star, the newly crowned U.S. Open champion, Carlos Alcaraz, who was born two months before Federer won his first major.But while his victories defined his career, Federer’s losses helped to humanize it. He will retire with a losing record against the other two defining stars of his era, Nadal and Djokovic, and he was defeated by them in two of the biggest matches of his career, against Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final and against Djokovic on the same stage in 2019. Federer had held two match points on his serve at age 37 but could not close out his victory.Federer had, by then, learned to control the combustible temper and competitive streak that had frustrated both coaches and his parents early in his career, funneling his fire into a more measured pursuit of perfection. His emotions were never far from the surface, though, at times seeping out in tears, especially early in his career, in victory and defeat.He will be remembered most, though, for exuding cool: a shotmaker who painted corners and lines like an artist, a dancer whose ability to glide around a singles court masked his power and precision, and made tennis, and particularly his tennis, look so easy, so natural.“When you have a vision of being a champion, you see yourself winning one tournament, or maybe more than one, but not many, many times in a row, or staying as long as I did,” he said. “That was definitely very special.” More

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      Who’s the Best Men’s Tennis Player? It Depends on How You Measure.

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      Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have credible claims to be considered the best. Here are a few ways to consider their gaudy stats.When Roger Federer announced his retirement this week, he was showered with hosannas befitting one of the greatest men’s tennis players of all time.But was he merely one of the greatest? Or was he the greatest of them all?It’s not hard to declare a favorite player the best ever and then seek out statistics to justify the argument. Let’s come at it from the other direction and look at numbers first to see where they lead.Grand Slam WinsIf any single number has been widely accepted as the ultimate measure of a tennis great, it is the number of Grand Slam tournaments won. And there is certainly plenty of logic behind that.A Grand Slam title is the ultimate goal for most players: The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open draw the most attention and the strongest fields and shower their winners with prize money and visibility. In men’s tennis, they are also known for a best-of-five-set format, a lengthier test than those in regular tour events.This simplest of measures is the one most tennis fans know:

      By The New York TimesThe Big Three (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) tower over the rest of men’s tennis history as they do in so many categories.Both Nadal and Djokovic are still playing, too, and could increase their totals; the two between them won three of the four Grand Slam singles titles this year.Grand Slam PerformancesReducing Grand Slam performances to a binary — did he win or not? — is something of an oversimplification. Winning matches and advancing deep into a tournament are important, too, no matter what Vince Lombardi might say.The scoring system might be debatable, but what if we awarded 6 points for a Grand Slam win, 3 for a runner-up finish and 1 for making a semifinal?Now the players stack up this way:

      Note: Under this scoring system, a Grand Slam title is worth 6 points, an appearance in the final is worth 3 and an appearance in the semifinals is worth 1. Djokovic scores 170 points because 21×6 + 11×3 + 11×1 = 170.By The New York TimesIf anything, it’s just as close. And a slightly different scoring system could easily change the order.For example, plenty of fans consider the Olympics, in which tennis is staged every four years, to be a Slam or a near-Slam-caliber tournament in importance. Each of the players won one Olympic singles medal. Add 6 for Nadal’s gold, 3 for Federer’s silver and 1 for Djokovic’s bronze and you get a laughably close race: 171-171-170, with Nadal trailing by just a point.Federer beat Rafael Nadal in the 2006 Wimbledon final. But Nadal holds the edge in their head-to-head record, 24-16.Anja Niedringhaus/Associated PressAll three men also lost the bronze medal match at an Olympics, and Djokovic did it twice. That’s the equivalent of a semifinal, which would push Djokovic a point ahead.Grand Slams From Another AngleCounting only Grand Slam wins, finals and semifinals doesn’t account for early round performances, nor does it factor in that Federer got his start earlier than the other two players and has had more opportunities in Grand Slams. A simple won-lost record in Grand Slam events accounts for both of those factors. By this measure:

      By The New York TimesFederer’s longevity counts against him here; some early- and late-career losses bring down his win percentage. The same could happen in the twilight of Nadal and Djokovic’s careers, if they stick around.VersatilityWinning on a variety of surfaces is important to a player’s legacy. That’s why Federer’s lone Grand Slam win on clay, in the 2009 French Open, mattered so much to tennis fans.So — and stick with us here — what if instead of adding up the Grand Slam titles, we multiplied them? This would give more points to players who won a variety of Grand Slams and penalize the specialists. It would also give a score of 0 to anyone who didn’t win all four, but luckily each of the big three did.

      Note: Singles titles in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open are shown. Under this scoring system, Djokovic scores 378 points because 9×2×7×3 = 378.By The New York TimesDjokovic’s comparative versatility gives him the edge here. Federer is hurt by winning only once in Paris, while Nadal’s amazing 14 French Open wins have diminishing returns by this method.Other TournamentsTennis is not just the Grand Slams, and the totality of the men’s careers should probably be looked at as well.In terms of won-lost record in all official events, they stack up:

      By The New York TimesBy winning percentage, it’s Nadal, Djokovic, Federer. By total wins, it’s Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.Here’s more to consider: Djokovic spent 373 weeks ranked at No. 1 and ended seven different years there. Federer was on top for 310 weeks and five times at year’s end, and Nadal 209 and five.Federer won 103 tour singles titles, Nadal has 92 and Djokovic 88. (For once, another player beats the triumvirate: Jimmy Connors, playing in a much different era, won 109 titles, something for those who want to make a very contrarian case for the best ever.)While some players and fans dismiss the Davis Cup, others see it as a critical part of the tennis calendar. Nadal has a stunning 29-1 record in Cup play, for a .967 percentage. Djokovic is 38-7, .844, and Federer is 40-8, .833.The Nuts and BoltsMaybe gaudy stats such as wins and Grand Slams are too results oriented. The ATP Tour compiles plenty of others to examine the players at a hyper-granular level.But there’s little clarity here either. Who has the best serve? Federer won 77 percent of his first serve points, with Djokovic at 74 and Nadal at 72.Best returner in the clutch? They rank in the opposite order. Nadal has won 45 percent of break points, with Djokovic at 44 and Federer at 41.Head-to-HeadMaybe it’s time to throw out all those matches against Tomas Berdych and Diego Schwartzman. How did the Big Three fare when they faced off against each other?Here, Djokovic gets the nod, if slightly. He holds a 30-29 edge over Nadal and 27-23 over Federer. Nadal leads Federer, 24-16.And in Conclusion …There are probably a million ways to figure it. And every time you figure it, someone won’t like the way you figured it.In our little experiment, Nadal led in five categories, Djokovic in four and Federer in three. But most of the categories were extremely close. And if we had picked a few different ones, there would have been a different result. Unless you stubbornly decide that only one statistic matters, there doesn’t seem to be any way to clearly separate the three.Maybe you have a favorite. If so, we have given you some ammunition to make your argument while you are waiting for the next match at Rod Laver Arena or Arthur Ashe Stadium.But no matter who your choice is, it is clear that Federer’s retirement is the beginning of the end of a Golden Age for men’s tennis. Maybe young Carlos Alcaraz will scare some of these numbers in 20 years or so. Or maybe we will never see the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, at least all at the same time, again. More

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      The Reliable, Graceful and Fallible Roger Federer

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      Federer’s moves made even blowout matches worthy of watching. And the moments in which he fell short made his legacy even more intriguing.Roger Federer is the most famous living citizen of Switzerland.“It’s not even close,” Nicolas Bideau, a Swiss official in charge of promoting the country’s image abroad, once told me.But though the Swiss have long adopted neutrality, Federer has played at home just about all over the world.Pity the Frenchman who faced Federer at Roland Garros, where his command of French and forehand made him a perennial crowd favorite.Pity Juan Martín del Potro, a tower of power from Argentina, who faced Federer in a 2012 exhibition in the suburbs of Buenos Aires and unexpectedly felt like the road team.Pity Novak Djokovic, the Serbian megastar, who faced Federer in the 2015 U.S. Open final and had to deal with roars of approval for his double faults by forcing himself to imagine that the crowd was chanting his name instead of Federer’s.So it went so often during Federer’s long run near the top of his game, and when I researched and wrote a biography of Federer after 20 years of covering him for The New York Times, one of my objectives was to fully comprehend what lay behind that deep connection with so many different cultures.I finished with four big reasons:First and most evidently, there was the beauty of his game, something closer to dance than tennis with his feathery footwork, flowing stroke production and something even closer to improvisational dance in that Federer, happily for nearly all involved, often strayed from the choreography: leaping or lunging to intercept a ball and create some fresh move with a flick of the wrist and barely a sound.His sleight of right hand sometimes left opponents dumbfounded: see Andy Roddick’s expression in 2002 after being Federered in Federer’s real home city of Basel. Above all, Federer’s game was an immersive viewing experience, one that could transform even a rout into a happening because of the aesthetic quality of the drubbing. The score sometimes seemed beside the point. You did not need to be a tennis fan to appreciate Federer’s art, but his art could certainly make you a tennis fan, which is part of his legacy as he retires next week from competitive tennis.Second, Federer endured while excelling, remaining highly visible and relevant without any dramatic dip in results or appeal. For 20 years, he was a reliable on-screen presence: on television when he first emerged in the late 1990s and on all manner of devices by the time he played his last major tournament at Wimbledon in 2021. His record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles has been passed by Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, but his record of 23 consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals may never be beaten. And then there is the pièce de résistance of his statistics: Federer never called a halt to any of his 1,526 career singles matches or 223 doubles matches because of injury or illness. Jimmy Connors, the only man to have played more tour-level matches than Federer, retired from 14 tour-level singles matches. Djokovic has retired from 13; Nadal from nine. Federer’s tennis was not just pretty. It was gritty.Third, he conducted himself, on and off the court, with class. After a shaky start, full of tossed rackets and shrieks of frustration, Federer became something much closer to a Zen master by the early 2000s. That was in part because he realized, as he rose in prominence, that he did not want to project a temperamental image to his public but also because he realized he played better under tight control. That the release provided by bemoaning the injustice of it all was seriously outweighed by the precision and focus acquired by mastering his emotions even if that old fire, as he once told me, still burned intensely behind the modern facade.Off the court — with the sponsors, the news media, the public and his family of six — he put the emphasis on being in the moment and present (and that does not refer to social media presence). He arrived on Instagram and Twitter relatively late in the game and posted cleverly if infrequently. He always seemed to prefer the face-to-face, undistracted approach, which made him old-school at one stage and then surely ahead of the curve. An interview with Federer, be it over a meal or in the back seat of a courtesy car, was usually closer to a conversation. “The reason Roger is so interesting is because he’s so interested,” his former coach Paul Annacone once told me.That rings true. A people person, he was, unlike some of his predecessors such as Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras, an extrovert who gathered energy from interaction. But Federer also knew his limits: sensing when he was close to saturation and taking a well-timed, usually private break.Federer won the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal to begin his surprising late-career renaissance.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesThe principle, and this is something that people without extraterrestrial tennis skills can learn from, was to find pleasure or at least minimal displeasure in the obligations that went with his job and status: be they post-match interviews in three languages or meet-and-greet events for his myriad sponsors. His world, as Roddick aptly observed, has long appeared to be low-friction, but that is not simply because he can fly private and stay in the most luxurious of resorts and abodes. It is because of attitude and a genuine love of discovery and the road, just as long as he can return to low-friction Switzerland on occasion to regroup.Finally, and this is perhaps the most intriguing element of the popularity equation, Federer was a serial champion, one of the most prolific in the game’s long history, but he was also a big loser.You can argue quite convincingly that Federer failed to seal the deal in two of his three greatest matches: losing the 2008 Wimbledon final in the gloaming to Nadal; winning the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal to begin Federer’s surprising late-career renaissance and then, most poignantly to those who call Federer home, losing to Djokovic in the 2019 Wimbledon final after holding two match points on his own serve at age 37.True Federer fans (and Djokovic fans) can replay those two missed opportunities in their heads: the slightly off-balance forehand error off a deep return followed by the crosscourt forehand passing shot winner from Djokovic off an unconvincing approach shot. In about a minute, what would have been the most remarkable triumph of his career had slipped away on his favorite patch of grass, the theater which suited his balletic game best and where he had won a men’s record eight Wimbledon singles titles.For all his talent, sagacious planning and love of the game, he still faltered when it mattered: not often over 20-plus years but certainly enough to humanize him.Then there were the tears, which came in victory and defeat and came, it seemed, more often early in his career than late. Such public sensitivity from a superstar male athlete once would have been derided as soft, but Federer’s timing was right, just as it was right so often on his rhythmic serve and full-cut groundstrokes tight to the baseline and straight off the bounce.His game was a visual feast, suitable for framing, but the player was flesh-and-blood vulnerable and all the more relatable for it despite all the millions in the Swiss bank. More