Roger Federer has shown his true colours by insisting he does not want to see Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic calling time on their illustrious careers any time soon. The Swiss ace became the first male player to win 20 Grand Slam titles when he lifted the Australian Open trophy at the start of 2018, but has since been leapfrogged at the top of the all-time leaderboard by his two former rivals.
Federer dominated tennis during the 2000s after getting his hands on his first Major title in 2003 when he triumphed at Wimbledon. And the 42-year-old won 16 Grand Slams in 27 tournaments between the summer of 2003 and the start of 2010.
He continued to reach the latter stages of tournaments over the next decade and lifted another four Major trophies before calling time on his career following the 2022 Laver Cup.
Nadal and Djokovic both played out a number of scintillating matches against Federer before the Swiss star ended his playing career. And Federer has explained that he wants the two players to keep going.
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“I was really happy and fortunate to be playing against them almost 40 to 50 times each”, Federer said. “So I have a lot of memories from a lot of great matches, battles. I’ve answered questions about them so so many times and I can only say the best things about them.
“It’s been great to share the court with them for so many years and I hope that Rafa can come back very strong next year. And I hope that Novak can keep on playing as long as he wants because it’s just really good for the game to have these guys still in the game.”
Djokovic tasted Grand Slam success for a record-extending 24th time in September when he defeated Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final. And the 36-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down as he also won this year’s Australian Open and French Open before reaching the final of Wimbledon.
Nadal, meanwhile, has been sidelined since his shock second-round defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at January’s Australian Open and underwent a hip operation earlier this year. But Australian Open chief executive Craig Tiley has already revealed the 37-year-old will return Down Under for the first Grand Slam of 2024.
“We can reveal exclusively here that Rafa will be back”, Tiley told Nine Network’s The Today Show in October. “He’s been off for most of the year. And in talking to him over the last few days, he confirmed he will be back, which we’re really excited about – the champion of 2022. That’s awesome.”
