Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal first became opponents at the 2004 Miami Masters, from that time until the final epic match at Wimbledon 2019, they met a total of 40 times. Even though they are eternal “rivals” (Nadal won 24, Federer won 16), the couple always considered each other friends.

When he was still playing, people rarely saw the image of a tennis player taking photos with his opponent’s family, but at his career farewell at the 2022 Laver Cup, Federer did this with Nadal’s family. FedEx took a photo with Nadal’s father and sister. Nadal’s sister Maria Isabel posted that photo on her Instagram account.

At Wimbledon 2022, his father and sister made Rafa angry by telling him to quit the match, he said: “My sister and father told me to withdraw. For me, it’s hard to quit in the middle of the match , even though I’ve thought about it for a long time. I’ve done it a few times in my career, but I hate doing it.”

Rafa still suffered an abdominal injury at Wimbledon, as he admitted before the Laver Cup that the injury was further complicated by the US Open: “I’m not okay, and I’ve had a challenging few weeks. It’s complicated, made me lose sleep. But luckily everything worked out and I was able to go to London, England. It was great to play a match with Federer.”

Also at the 2022 Laver Cup tournament, Nadal for the first time shared about the souvenir 15 years ago Federer gave him. In 2007, at the Hamburg Masters. Nadal advanced to the final after a streak of 81 consecutive wins on clay. But it was Federer who stopped that glorious winning streak in the Hamburg final with a 2-1 victory (2-6 6-2 6-0).

“Winning 81 consecutive matches on clay is a very important record for me. He stopped it, we went back to the locker room. I came back a little later and before going to the press conference , I saw him taking a shower. I asked, “Can you give me the shirt you wore to compete and win against me?”. I consider it a special souvenir to always remind myself,” Rafa said with Spanish radio station COPE.

According to Reddit, Nadal’s feelings for Federer are not fake. After shedding tears when Federer said goodbye outside the tennis stadium, “Gaur” Nadal cried again when entering the hotel room.

The Reddit post reads: “Rafa cried again when he returned to his hotel room and reiterated that his tears were not related to himself but were 100% related to Roger.”