“Rafa could have been a father any day,” Tommy Haas left amazed by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s incredible display of friendship at the Laver Cup
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Tommy Haas, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal gave one of the most beautiful sporting moments of the season. The image of the two players holding hands and crying at Federer’s farewell at the Laver Cup was shared immensely on social media and was talked about for days even after the match has ended.
Federer announced after the 2022 US Open that he will be retiring at the 2022 Laver Cup with all of the Big 4 joining him. With less than a day to go before the commencement of the 3-day event, Nadal was not there in London for the official photoshoot raising doubts over his participation in the tournament as his wife was in the advanced stage of her pregnancy.
Nadal however did make the trip to London to be part of Federer’s retirement ceremony. The duo teamed up for the Doubles match on Day 1, the only match they both played. It was a treat for tennis fans to see the duo play together in an official match and the emotional scenes of the two after the match had every fan around the world in tears.
“Unbelievably, many emotions. If you are an insider, you know that Rafa and Roger get along well. Rafa could have been a father any day in London at that time and he was still there. Roger is so incredibly popular. You become a fan of the guy relatively quickly. You could feel that.
“There was no one among the 18,000-19,000 in the O2 Arena who didn’t have tears in their eyes. The farewell couldn’t have been better,” said Tommy Haas, the former World No. 2 and a close friend of Federer, speaking with Eurosport Germany’s tennis podcast Das Gelbe vom Ball.
Tommy Haas congratulates Roger Federer for a splendid career
Haas and Federer have been good friends for a long time now. They even played doubles at the 2013 Halle Open but didn’t win the title that year. Haas made himself available for Federer’s farewell in London this year and went on to elaborate on it during the podcast.
“I knew beforehand that he would say goodbye there at the Laver Cup. It was important for me to be there. I’ve never been to the Laver Cup before. It was a great atmosphere in the O2 Arena. It was very emotional, almost too emotional. Roger is an incredible guy, on and off the court – as a friend, as a father, as a man. You always have fun with him.
“He has a great outlook on life and it’s wonderful to spend time with people like him. Roger is in the same situation now as I was back then: you are no longer on the tour. But when we both play table tennis, we have fun, we have the ambition to win. You can talk about Roger’s career for a long time.
“It’s unbelievable what he achieved, how long and consistently. He played tennis as if he was from another planet, that was the time from 2004 to 2006,” added Haas praising his old friend for a historic career.
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Sarthak Shitole
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