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Federer-Nadal, a declaration of love

2022-09-24T16:16:00.074Z


Two tennis players who have been giving a recital of blows on the court for almost twenty years offered the last, devastating one, off it: a photograph that expresses the love and respect that two rivals who grew up wanting to defeat the other can reach


For those two men to put their hands together and get emotional at the same time, sitting at the farewell of one of them, they have had to face each other 40 times, they have taken away titles that they longed for more than anything in the world, they have made each other cry rage and sadness, they have sought each other's weak point to exploit it without mercy, they have persecuted and summoned each other all over the planet for two decades to see each other in the finals of the most important tournaments.

For these two men to put their hands together and get excited at the same time, they have had to see 40 times how the victory of one implied the defeat of the other;

they have had to see 40 times how the euphoria of one provoked the despondency of the other.

And not like that.

It is unknown if Federer, without Nadal, would have been the greatest tennis player in history;

in the same way it happens to the hypothetical Nadal without Federer.

Together, however, and dividing the titles, they have risen as far as possible, they have built what remains forever in the memory of viewers, beyond beautiful individual deeds or overwhelming domains: a rivalry, an antagonism, a endless duel that contrasted two opposite ways of dressing and two opposite ways of playing, but only one way of competing: that of asking for forgiveness when luck favors you, that of respecting your rival and suffering with his injuries, accepting defeat, not think only of yourself in victory, recognize the greatness of the other and understand that everything good that you are, you are because the opposite has led you there.

Swiss Roger Federer played his last official match in London on Friday night.

He did it in the Laver Cup, representing the European team in pairs with his staunch rival and great friend, Rafael Nadal, and facing the Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe. GLYN KIRK (AFP)

After the match, both Federer and Nadal were unable to hold back their tears to the applause of the London crowd.Ella Ling

Federer, still with tears in his eyes, appreciates the recognition of the public and his teammates, in the background.ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

Among his teammates who applaud him are Bjorn Borg, Andy Murray, Thomas Enqvist, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. GLYN KIRK (AFP)

Roger Federer subtly hits the ball to make it go over the net smoothly during the match. ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

The Swiss pulls off one of his trademark setbacks in the opening stages of the match. ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

Americans Jack Sock (30 years old) and Frances Tiafoe (24 years old) shake hands after winning a point.

Kin Cheung (AP)

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on a tile during their Laver Cup doubles match. Kin Cheung (AP)

A gesture of concentration from Roger Federer during the match. ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

Jack Sock and Roger Federer, face to face near the net in a frantic exchange of blows.ANDY RAIN (EFE)

The American team celebrates the point with which they take the second set. Kin Cheung (AP)

Federer takes his knee to the ground during the game. DYLAN MARTINEZ (Action Images via Reuters)

Frances Tiafoe, of Sierra Leonean descent, faced Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the US Open on September 9.

Jack Sock has two Wimbledon titles and one US Open doubles title. ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

Nadal and Federer shake hands on one of the points with which they close the first set in their favor. ANDREW BOYERS (Action Images via Reuters)

Nadal (22 Grand Slams) and Federer (20), are together with Djokovic (21), the most successful tennis players in the men's category, the undisputed dominators of tennis in the 21st century. DYLAN MARTINEZ (Action Images via Reuters)

Smiles from Nadal and Federer, leading Team Europe. DYLAN MARTINEZ (Action Images via Reuters)

Roger Federer said, at the conclusion of his last match: "I am happy, not sad... I have enjoyed putting on the shoes one last time."Kin Cheung (AP)

Federer applauds the public, who recognize him before the start of his last official match. DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)

All of which leads not only to Federer's request to play the last match of his career in London alongside Nadal on the same side of the net, nor to the iconic image of two men crying next to each other, but to something impressive. in the history of the sport for being such a protracted rivalry: few Nadal fans wish Federer ill, few Federer fans wish Nadal ill.

Loving them did not mean hating the other.

And what they taught on the track, was learned off it.

If it is already difficult to win more than 40 Grand Slams between the two of you, how difficult it must be to do it by educating the spectators who watch you;

how difficult it has to be, in a sport so busy with parents feeding grudges, competitiveness and outbursts of anger on the courts of their children,

teach tennis players that much more is gained when you recognize in defeat that the other was better, and that this match is never the end of the world.

That you win more, infinitely more, when you learn to lose.

01:47

The tears of Federer and Nadal in the last match of the Swiss

They met in Miami 2004 when Roger was 22 years old and Rafa, 17. The Swiss still had long hair that he held in a ponytail, and he was number one in the world;

the Spaniard, number 32, beat him 6-3/6-3.

What they said when leaving the track they repeated it in the following 15 years.

“His shot has a lot of spin, that makes the ball bounce very high, and that's the problem I had today.

I tried to avoid it, but I couldn't.

He has landed impressive points,” said Federer.

“I haven't let him develop his own game.

If he can play how he wants, he beats you 6-1/6-1″, Nadal said.

18 years older, Federer said at his farewell: “Being together with Rafa has been wonderful”, and Nadal said: “A part of my life is gone without him”.

The two burst into tears hopelessly, first Federer, then Nadal, when the farewell became inevitable.

A very sweet and delicate image -an intimate scene of two athletes in the public light, the best in history in their sport-, which threatens a world in extinction, that of repressed emotions, the manhood of the hero who does not say I love you , does not kiss another man or take him by the hand anywhere if it is not his son;

that of the ancient but modern heterosexual man who fears that certain affectionate gestures may misunderstand his tastes or be the object of ridicule and suspicion;

that of the man, in short, who fears, compared to the man who does not.

And that was how, in the most natural and simple way, which is how a political gesture has more depth, two tennis players who have been giving a recital of blows on the court for almost 20 years offered one more, devastating, off it;

a photograph that expresses the love and respect that can reach two rivals who grew up wanting to beat each other.

And they didn't lose anything along the way.

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Source: elparis

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