The two men, sitting side-by-side, are becoming tearful. Their brows crease; their eyes moisten; their mouths part, as if in preparation for the gasp that precedes a sob. And then Roger Federer’s hand reaches for Rafael Nadal’s.
In touching each other’s hands at last week’s Laver Cup, Federer and Nadal seemed to touch the tennis-watching public; social media was awash with emotional reaction. Federer had just played the last game of his career, and here was a moving coda. The two great rivals had fought for years over tennis’ biggest prizes, and now, with the era at a close, they were reaching to each other for comfort. The moment is captured in a widely shared photo, an image nonetheless moving for being still.
