Rafael Nadal Crying At Roger Federer’s Retirement Leaves Twitter Teary-Eyed, Virat Kohli Reacts

An era came to an end with Swiss professional tennis player Roger Federer bidding goodbye to the game after having an illustrious career in which he won 103 ATP singles titles including 20 grand slam titles, eight men’s singles Wimbledon titles which is a record and many other titles.

Roger Federer is among the Big Three (other two – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) who have dominated the men’s tennis for years. He was given an emotional farewell today at the Laver Cup after he lost the doubles event against Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe but what made this doubles match more special was that Roger chose his arch-rival Rafael Nadal as his partner in his final match.

It was very tough for everybody to believe that Roger Federer is taking retirement and everyone from spectators to fans and even Roger’s competitors were in tears when he was giving his speech. Roger states that it has been a wonderful day and he is happy. He further said that he even enjoyed tying his shoes one more time as everything was happening for the last time.

Rafael Nadal who was also crying the whole time states that an important part of his life is leaving as Roger is leaving tour because whether he was next to him or front of him, he is an important part of his memories. Despite being rivals on court, they both have been great friends off-the-court and while they were playing the doubles event, the crowd was cheering for them by shouting “Fedal” as they are jointly nicknamed.

Nadal further says that personal relationships get better on a daily basis, adding that they both think in a similar manner and also approach the life in similar style but on the court, they both have different styles which make their matches and rivalry more interesting and one of the biggest. He also expressed his happiness over the fact that they ended as friends after sharing rivalry for so many years on the court.

Meanwhile, the video clip of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal sitting beside each other crying profusely has gone viral:

Click to watch this video directly on Twitter

The Indian cricketer Virat Kohli also paid tribute to Roger Federer and his rivalry with Rafael Nadal as he tweeted, “Who thought rivals can feel like this towards each other. That’s the beauty of sport. This is the most beautiful sporting picture ever for me. When your companions cry for you, you know why you’ve been able to do with your God given talent. Nothing but respect for these 2.”

This is how fans reacted to the emotional moment:

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https://twitter.com/DuraibiM/status/1573479505418657810

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https://twitter.com/GamerIdentity1/status/1573462583415275538

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https://twitter.com/GuptaRij/status/1573463934577016832

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Sometimes you don’t have words for expressing yourself and this is one of those moments!