Tears flowed unabashedly at London's O2 Arena on Friday night. Roger Federer stressed, between sobs, that his were happy tears - at first to the 17,500 spectators and then to his family, teenage daughters, Charlene Riva and Myla Rose. Beside him, on their court-side seat, was his great rival Rafael Nadal, he was dolorous. The Swiss covered the Spaniard's hand with his own, ostensibly to console him. Or to be consoled. The lines were smudged, it was that kind of an evening.
Earlier Nadal and Federer went down 6-4, 6-7, 9-11 in the Laver Cup to the American pair of Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock in what was the 41-year-old's farewell game. The result is irrelevant. While the match itself had moments of Federer magic, including one at the start of the campaign, where the 41-year-old on a dodgy knee threaded the needle, the hole-like gap between post and net. The Americans won the point, even if Federer got the applause.
