A tearful Roger Federer bid farewell to tennis after playing the final match of his career alongside Rafael Nadal in the Laver Cup. Federer, who will go down as perhaps the greatest champion in tennis history, retires from the sport after a thrilling defeat to the Team World pair of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe, who won 4-6 7-6 (11-9) on a deciding tiebreak late in to the night in London.
Afterwards, Federer was emotional and Nadal joined him in breaking down in tears as the 41-year-old reflected upon his career and his final goodbye. “It’s been an incredible day,” Federer said. “I said to the guys, I’m happy, not sad. It feels like a celebration to me. It was exactly as I hoped for.”
Before tonight’s doubles, three singles matches were played. Casper Ruud won the opening match of the day against Sock 6-4 5-7 (10-7), and was followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas crushing Diego Schwartzman 6-2 6-1 to double Europe’s lead. However, the match was overshadowed by a bizarre climate change protest in which a man set his arm on fire while on court, while wearing a t-shirt that read: “End UK Private Jets”.
Follow live reaction from the opening day of the Laver Cup, below:
