Roger Federer recalls crying with Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic while relishing how fortunate they are to play in their 30s

Federer compared other tennis greats with that of the Big-4 to point out how fortunate they are to play in their 30s.

Roger Federer recalls crying with Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic while relishing how fortunate they are to play in their 30s

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray (Image via The Statsman)

Roger Federer opened up about the time when his three rivals – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray cried with him during an emotional farewell last September. Federer paired up with Nadal for a doubles match to play his last professional tennis match at the Laver Cup in London.

Federer, in an exclusive interview with CNN, compared other tennis greats with that of the Big-4 to point out how fortunate they are to play in their 30s. “I mean, all of us: [Andy] Murray, [Novak] Djokovic, Nadal, and me, I think the four of us when I retired were all sitting there crying about me retiring – or because of the music, who knows,” Federer told CNN’s Christina Macfarlane. The song he mentioned was Ellie Goulding’s “Still Falling For You” and “Fire and Ice”.

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“Everybody had their own reasons why they were crying. I think you realize how fortunate we are to still be playing at this later stage of our careers because tennis players used to retire at 30,” he added.

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He named other tennis legends to make the comparison. Bjorn Borg retired at the age of 26, Pete Sampras at the age of 32, and Andre Agassi hung up his racquet at the age of 36.

Related: Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur echo tennis world’s request to Ash Barty to make comeback after becoming a mom like Caroline Wozniacki

After Roger Federer, who among the Big-4 will retire next?

Roger Federer recalls crying with Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic while relishing how fortunate they are to play in their 30s
Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic (Image via Twitter)

Roger Federer retired at the age of 41. Rafael Nadal, who turned 37 this June, has been on the sidelines due to a hip injury he sustained during the 2023 Australian Open. Since then he hasn’t played competitive tennis. He has announced that 2024 can be his last year as a professional player.

Andy Murray on the other hand has successfully overcome his career-threatening hip injury and has been playing with a metal hip. Though his form level has dipped a lot, he did not fail to impress the tennis world with his sheer passion and love for the game. This year, he hasn’t lifted a Tour-level title yet, but he has won three challenger events, one on clay and two consecutive wins on grass-court events.

Novak Djokovic is eyeing to tie the Wimbledon tally with Federer. The Swiss maestro has eight titles and Djokovic, who arrived at the tournament on the back of his historic French Open win, has seven titles. If the Serb wins the trophy at the All England Club, he will also be achieving another historic feat with a record-extending 24 Grand Slam titles.

Meanwhile, Federer made his comeback at the All England Club to watch the Wimbledon action on the first day. He was accompanied by his wife Mirka Federer and both of them sat at the Royal Box and watched Andy Murray beat Briton Ryan Peniston.

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