
Roger Federer has declared he hopes Rafael Nadal gets the opportunity to retire from tennis on his own terms and “still believes” this will happen.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion also discussed the possbility of a coaching role and admitted it would be “difficult” for him to be a touring coach.
Federer called an end to his remarkable 24-year professional career last year, partnering his rival and friend Nadal in doubles at the Laver Cup in his final match.
Prior to this year’s French Open, Nadal revealed 2024 would likely be his final year on tour. The 37-year-old has not played since losing to Mackenzie MacDonald in the second round of the Australian Open in January due to injury.
The Mallorcan had a successful surgery on his hip last month and is expected to miss most, if not all, of the rest of the 2023 season. Nadal won the most recent of his 22 major titles at the 2022 French Open.
Federer reflected on the emotional moment he shared with Nadal and his other great rivals following his retirement at the Laver Cup. The 41-year-old also spoke about how the Spaniard’s career may end.
“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 said in an interview with CNN.
“Everybody had their own reasons why they were crying. I think you realise how fortunate we are to still be playing at this later stage of our careers because tennis players used to retire at 30.
“I mean, 26 for [Bjorn] Borg, 32 for [Pete] Sampras, 36 for [Andre] Agassi. This was like playing deep and now here we are all sitting there around 35-40. We all know how fortunate we are and so I think Rafa knew that, too.
“So seeing him going through this more difficult period now, obviously I’ve been there and I just hope that he can go out on his terms [and] he can still play a little bit. I still hope we’ll see not just the doubles like I did, but more than that. I still believe that’s going to happen.”
The Swiss addressed whether he could be involved in professional tennis again in a coaching capacity.
“I think the coaching on the tour like we know it I think is difficult for me. Having four children at the age of, twin boys nine now and twin girls 14, I want to be there for them and I can’t see myself going on tour, honestly,” explained Federer.
“If it’s mentoring or if somebody comes to Switzerland and says: ‘Look, let’s have a good week,’ I can see that in the future happening. I mean, Stefan Edberg never thought he was going to coach and he ended up coming on tour with me for two years.”
READ MORE: ‘I don’t really stand a chance against Novak Djokovic’, says Stan Wawrinka
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbHNp6Csa2Zqe6S7zGirnqaensBuusSwqmiqn5yys3nFnpueqpWnerOtxZqcpWWelrGiuA%3D%3D