{"id":17794,"date":"2024-11-19T10:28:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T10:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17794"},"modified":"2024-11-19T10:28:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T10:28:51","slug":"federer-pays-tribute-to-nadal-for-epic-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17794","title":{"rendered":"Federer pays tribute to Nadal for 'epic career'"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A 37-year-old Federer triumphed in the pair’s final encounter, in 2019 at Wimbledon, but it was a 17-year-old Nadal who won their first meeting, in 2004.<\/p>\n

“I thought I was on top of the world. And I was – until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt, showing off those biceps, and you beat me convincingly. <\/p>\n

“All that buzz I’d been hearing about you about this amazing young player from Mallorca, a generational talent, probably going to win a major someday – it wasn’t just hype.<\/p>\n

“We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together. Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including 14 French Opens – historic!<\/p>\n

“You made Spain proud… you made the whole tennis world proud.”<\/p>\n

Federer teamed up with Nadal for the final match of his career<\/a> when the pair – affectionately nicknamed ‘Fedal’ – played together in the doubles for Europe against the Rest of the World at the Laver Cup.<\/p>\n

Both players were in tears as Federer bowed out of the game. <\/p>\n

“Sharing the court with you that night, and sharing those tears, will forever be one of the most special moments of my career.”<\/p>\n

He added: “Rafa, I know you’re focused on the last stretch of your epic career.<\/p>\n

“We will talk when it’s done. For now, I just want to congratulate your family and team, who all played a massive role in your success.<\/p>\n

“And I want you to know that your old friend is always cheering for you, and will be cheering just as loud for everything you do next.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 37-year-old Federer triumphed in the pair’s final encounter, in 2019 at Wimbledon, but it was a 17-year-old Nadal who won their first meeting, in 2004. “I thought I was on top of the world. And I was – until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}