Roger and out for Federer

Tears as Swiss maestro hangs up his racket

HAILED as the “greatest line-up of Team Europe” players since the inception of the Laver Cup, it was the first time the Big Four, all former No 1s with 65 Grand Slam titles between them – Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – have appeared in the same team.

The fact that the remainder boasts World No 2 & 6, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas, as well as Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berretini, seems superfluous, especially given Europe have won this competition four times already.

By comparison, the opposition, Team World, under John McEnroe, a former great himself, looked lightweight, if not top heavy with Americans: Three-time Doubles Slam champion Jack Sock; Indian Wells champion, Taylor Fritz; rising star, Tommy Paul; and US Open semi finalist, Frances Tiafoe, making his debut at this event, together with Australian No 1, Alex De Minnaur, substituting for the injured John Isner.

The American captain was comforted in the knowledge that rather than staving off yet another Team World whitewash, the occasion was more about bidding a collective farewell to Swiss maestro Federer, considered by many as the greatest of all time and celebrating his icon, Rod Laver’s 60th anniversary of winning a Golden Slam in 1962.

It was staged as well as a West End Show: Federer and his family flown in to London on a private plane, players ferried to the O2 Arena on boats down the Thames, a glittering black tie dinner, which VIPs paid for through their noses to attend.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour, a permanent fixture in Federer’s box at Majors, was courtside, sporting her mandatory dark glasses to witness his farewell crescendo.

Eschewing singles, Swiss choreography for this historic occasion demanded Nadal and Federer, hitherto arch rivals, partner in Doubles against Team World duo Sock and Tiafoe.

As former Doubles Slam champion Todd Woodbridge put it: “In Doubles you want yin and yang – partners with different strengths – complementing each other’s deficits. I’d give Federer and Nadal the edge; Nadal a lefty, Federer right-handed, one with big top spin ground strokes and the other a brilliant volleyer, whereas Sock and Tiafoe play like identical twins.”

What Woodbridge didn’t factor in is that come their Doubles match, Team World had an unexpected point on the board, from Murray’s previous Singles loss to on-song De Minnaur.

Thus the younger Americans had more to play for and are faster and fitter than their aging opponents. Moreover, as Laver has always maintained: “It’s not about winning all the points, it’s about winning the ones that count.”

For decades, both Nadal and Federer have achieved their success doing exactly that. Ironically it was Nadal – not a Doubles player, and while a much-improved volleyer, not as natural a one as Federer – who lost those crucial points.

The tide has turned for the fired-up young guns of Team World and Federer ended his star-spangled career with a loss.

Copious tears replaced the cheerful camaraderie and the on-court performance, an indication this extraordinary gift to the Tennis fraternity has indeed chosen the right time to wrap up his racket and retire gracefully.

No doubt Nadal, who thereafter withdrew from the event, is taking stock. It will be up to Djokovic, Ruud and Tsitsipas to procure one last Laver Cup trophy to assuage Federer’s dented pride and to add to his otherwise indelible legacy.