Roger Federer sends heart-warming wishes to Rafael Nadal after Fedal’s Wimbledon record ends

Wimbledon 2023 commenced on July 3, and for the first time in its history, there was no Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in the competition. Federer retired from professional tennis in September 2022 after the final years of his career was marred with injuries. However, he overcame his knee injury with surgery and returned to clinch three more Grand Slams before calling off his career.

Meanwhile, Nadal also hasn’t played competitive Tennis since a hip muscle injury during Australian Open in January 2023. He suffered a defeat in the second round of the tournament. However, in May, the Spaniard announced that the year 2024 would be his last year in the ATP Tour.

This is for the first time since 1999 that neither Federer nor Nadal has been featured in the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Federer made his Wimbledon debut in 1999, while Nadal was first featured in the tournament in 2003. Speaking on the subject, Federer had a special message for his friend and long-time rival Nadal.

We all know how fortunate we are and so I think Rafa knew that: Federer

“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. Everybody had their own reasons why they were crying. I think you realize 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 (Björn) 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,” Federer told CNN Sports.

“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,” he further added.