Roger Federer is all geared up for the release of his documentary on Amazon Prime, ‘Federer: Twelve Final Days’. The film, directed by Asif Kapadia, is expected to dive into the bond between the Swiss legend and Rafael Nadal. The duo had the biggest rivalry in tennis during their peaks, which gradually developed into a ‘bromance’ of sorts.
So when Nadal says (via Tennis.com) that what makes him connect with Federer the most is their belief in being remembered as good human beings first before tennis players, it is heartwarming. In fact, this bromance even resulted in Nadal playing doubles with Federer for the latter’s farewell match at the Laver Cup 2022.
While everyone remembers that fondly, the moment came with a catch for the Spaniard. A fan on X pointed out an interesting fact about Roger Federer’s retirement that had more ramifications than one could think of.
Roger Federer has admitted before that he contacted Rafael Nadal first before any other player or the media to share the news that he was retiring at the Laver Cup. This was on September 5, 2022, 10 days before the announcement was made public and official.
Interestingly, on the very same day, Rafael Nadal had his US Open Round of 16 match against American young gun, Frances Tiafoe. The news came as a shock for the Spaniard, who is a huge fan of Federer and later claimed that he was the only player from the ATP Tour who he remains in touch with frequently.
According to the fans, the news shook Nadal up so much that even a mentally strong player like him could not concentrate well enough on the day to beat a fearless Tiafoe. Perhaps, the US Open match was not as significant as the news of Roger Federer retiring.
Oh my fucking god, Federer told Nadal he will retire 10 days earlier than the others. He announced his retirement on 15th Sep.
He told Nadal on 5th September.
Nadal lost to Tiafoe on 5th September.
This cannot be real, this news broke Nadal pic.twitter.com/fFu6ms0OZa
— SRF (@S_RF_CA) June 11, 2024
With that loss, Rafael Nadal was denied a golden opportunity to win the 23rd Grand Slam of his career, which would have been his 3rd of 2022. Until then, Rafa was having an incredible season for a men’s singles professional tennis player aged 36, as he started the year in style with back-to-back wins at the Australian Open and the French Open. There were some injuries along the way and one of them resulted in the Spaniard having to withdraw before his much-anticipated semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon.
Even at that stage, Rafael Nadal was expected to shrug off the Wimbledon outcome to bounce back at the US Open, which was his best chance with no Novak Djokovic in it. But that loss to Frances Tiafoe resulted in a downslide for the Spaniard.
Rafael Nadal was never the same player after the Roger Federer announcement
Rafael Nadal was gracious enough to accept Roger Federer’s invite to play in the Laver Cup 2022 with him for his final professional match despite his own injuries. But it was getting clearer that Nadal was showing signs of slowing down. Ironically, one of the players to have ensured that the 22-time Grand Slam champion did not give a winning farewell to Federer, was none other than Tiafoe. Tiafoe and Jack Sock combined to beat the legendary duo in doubles.
After that, it was a freefall of sorts for the Spaniard, who lost 3 indoor hard-court matches in a row to the likes of Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz, and Felix Augur-Aliassime respectively. With that, Rafael Nadal lost his World No.1 ranking to Carlos Alcaraz.
Although Nadal did end 2022 in style by defeating his mentee Casper Ruud in the ATP Finals round-robin match, he could not carry over that form into 2023 as he was out for the entire season after his second-round loss at the Australian Open. That was not the Nadal that fans knew of over the years, as the injuries not only reflected badly on his body but also must have made him think of life after retirement considering how Roger Federer went about it.
Perhaps, not playing in 2023 was a blessing in disguise for Rafael Nadal, who could sit down and assess his plans going forward in tennis and life in general as well as have a well-deserved break with his family and friends. 2024 is going slow for Nadal professionally and only time (as well as results) can tell whether he is actually over Federer’s retirement or not.
All eyes are now on Roger Federer and his documentary, which is premiering across the world on June 20.
