Frances Tiafoe has explained what it was like to face Roger Federer in the final match of the Swiss star’s career. The 42-year-old retired at the Laver Cup last year, pairing up with Rafael Nadal in the doubles where they lost to Tiafoe and Jack Sock. But the American believes that the result was “irrelevant” as he hailed Federer’s impact on tennis, also sharing what he told his rival at the net.
The Laver Cup is back for its sixth edition 12 months after Federer ended his career at the tournament while surrounded by his old rivals – Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – on Team Europe. When he retired, the former world No 1 hadn’t played a match in 14 months as he stepped onto the court one final time with Nadal to face Team World’s Tiafoe and Sock.
The result went down to a super match tiebreak, where the American duo saved a match point against ‘Fedal’ to win 4-6 7-6(2) 11-9. But Tiafoe now insists that the result doesn’t matter. The world No 11 is back representing Team World for the fourth time and has reflected on coming out as the victor in Federer’s final match.
“Me and Jack were joking, should we go hard, should we not, should we make it a good show? I’m glad we went out there and played hard,” the three-time title winner told the New York Times. “The result was so irrelevant. Tennis won that night.”
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Tiafoe also opened up on what he said to Federer at the net as the 42-year-old’s career came to an end when the final ball had been hit. Repeating his kind words, the 25-year-old added: “‘Thank you for the last 20-plus years. Thank you not only for your on-court play, but for who you are as an individual. What you’ve done will never die.’”
The doubles clash wasn’t Tiafoe’s only significant moment at last year’s Laver Cup as he won the final match of the weekend against Stefanos Tsitsipas to help Team World lift the trophy for the first time in the tournament’s history. And the world No 11 has already gotten back to winning ways at this year’s edition in Vancouver.
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Teaming up with Tommy Paul in the doubles on Friday night, the pair beat Andrey Rublev and Arthur Fils 6-3 4-6 10-6. It meant that Team World swept the board on the opening day of the tournament, winning all four matches to lead 4-0 in points.
But things could still turn around for Team Europe, as all matches on day two are worth two points and all matches on day three are worth three points. The winning team must reach 13 points. And Tiafoe will be hoping that Team World can defend the trophy after losing the first four editions of the tournament.
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