The memories of the 2019 clash for the Wimbledon title between Novak Djokovic and Roger Roger Federer still burn bright in the minds of tennis fans. Not just for the quality of the match but also the dramatic, and for many heartbreaking, conclusion. Rafael Nadal, who’d lost to Federer in the semi-final, watched the Championships match but was left hurting after watching his Swiss rival and friend lose out in such painful manner.
A casual and fun interview for La Resistencia that he sat down for a little while after had him implying that he’d felt for Federer. But a hesitant Nadal also did not explicitly lay out his alliances being the gentleman that he is.
Nadal was gutted seeing the outcome in 2019
Talking about the match Rafa agreed to the match being a hard one on both players, Djokovic and Federer, who had battled it out for almost 5 hours. The manner in which the match wrapped up had viewers in disbelief. Rafa did admit he suffered a bit seeing his arch-rival and friend end up on the losing side of such a sentimental match. The 22-time Grand Slam winner stated, “Yeah in that moment I think I did,” when asked if he’d suffered too.
Throwback to the time when Rafael Nadal basically implied that he was rooting for Roger Federer and suffered when he lost to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 19. #Fedal ❤️pic.twitter.com/zZNhNX5Cdn
— SRF (@S_RF_CA) July 10, 2023
Just when the chips seemed down for the Serbian, Djokovic saved two match points on Federer’s serve at 40-15. Having made it 12-12 in the final set, it marked the first time that a Wimbledon final would be decided in a tiebreaker. Djokovic winning the tiebreaker and the match 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) had many wincing for Federer.
The interviewer does try to slip in that “everyone”, including Nadal, was rooting for the Swiss but the Spaniard quickly shuts that down by saying “Well, I can’t say that.“
Having lost out on a spot in the final to Federer, Nadal would have hoped his Swiss rival would go on to win the title. But that was not to be.
For Federer this would mark his last opportunity for another title on Centre Court. He would go on to struggle with a slew of knee issues that required multiple surgeries before wrapping up his awesome career at the Laver Cup in 2022.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal an emotional relationship
For his farewell match, Roger Federer partnered up with Nadal at the Laver Cup in a doubles match. And as the play for the day was wrapping up, the emotions started building, culminating with most players bawling their eyes out, none more so than Nadal and Federer. The moment gave fans some iconic photos as well.
Such kind of mutual admiration and respect between rivals was never seen in sports before. These two have shown the world that there are other ways conduct oneself as rivals.
At the moment, Rafa has taken a break for this season and has assured fans he will be back for one more season to compete for the biggest titles. On the other hand, Federer was seen as a guest in the Royal Box during the early days of the Wimbledon Championships 2023.
