Sept. 23, 2022, 3:00 p.m. ET
Sept. 23, 2022, 3:00 p.m. ETCredit…Petr David Josek/Associated Press
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer should not a recent doubles team. They teamed up in 2011 for a number of hit-and-giggle games in Melbourne, Australia, in a charity match, but their real debut got here in September 2017 in Prague within the inaugural edition of the Laver Cup team event.
They were each at the highest of their games then, having split the 4 Grand Slam singles titles that yr. Nadal was ranked No. 1. Federer was ranked No. 2, they usually were each clearly delighted at the possibility to hitch forces once I interviewed them ahead of the match within the back seat of a van.
The ride was bumpy — Prague has a variety of cobblestones. However the mood was light as a giddy Federer cracked up at nearly every little thing Nadal said.
“I hope we didn’t wait too long because we’re too old now,” Federer said about their partnership.
Federer and Nadal did just advantageous of their matching blue shirts and white bandannas. With Federer within the deuce court and Nadal within the ad court, they meshed quickly despite a near collision when Nadal retreated to hit an overhead, forcing Federer to duck.
“We played with an excessive amount of energy,” Nadal said later, shaking his head and grinning. “It was good fun. First time we play together, as everybody knows, and it’s tough to take decisions sometimes when it’s the primary time you play with a partner.”
It was an prolonged photo op to make certain but in addition tightly contested match with Federer and Nadal defeating Team World’s Jack Sock and Sam Querrey 6-4, 1-6, (10-5) and embracing one another in victory (The Laver Cup uses a first-to-10-point tiebreaker as a substitute of a full third set).
“I’m glad the one match we did play thus far we did win,” Federer said, sounding relieved within the on-court interview.
On Friday night, they’ll play another, with Sock back on the other side of the web with recent partner Frances Tiafoe. Federer, 41, and Nadal, 36, are even older now but for Federer no less than, there may be nothing to avoid wasting his energy for. In tennis terms, that is it.
“I’ll try my easiest,” Federer said. “I hope to be good on the market, and in fact I’ll enjoy it but it can be hard.”
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