Roger Federer set to play ‘special’ final match of career on Friday with Rafael Nadal
For Federer, who won his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, Saturday’s final of a career that has spanned 20 years of top-level tennis will be a special occasion.
Federer’s last match was his semifinal against Nadal at Wimbledon in 2011. Rafael Nadal will make his 20th Grand Slam final on Friday, against Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.
Federer says his final match will be a special occasion, as he returns to the top of the sport where he started — at the age of 18 when he played in his first tournament, the U.S. Open in 1988.
He lost to Roger Federer in the 2011 Australian Open final, and then lost to Nadal in the Wimbledon final in 2011, before prevailing against the Spaniard this year.
“It’s going to be a special moment, but it’s really a little bit different because he’s been the one who has taken over 20 years of my career,” Federer said on Tuesday.
“He has taken over 20 years of my career and taken over 20 years of tennis and he has been playing his own way (over the years) and he has taken over.
“I guess for a lot of guys it’s going to be his [Nadal’s] last year in a season, but he is the one that has taken over the sport, not me. To be honest, I really didn’t want to play the last match, but I have accepted it.”
Nadal will be fighting for the first Grand Slam title since Wimbledon, where Federer, in his second major final after defeating Nadal in 2009, came out on top. The Swiss is the first man to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and the first man to earn all four U.S. Open titles since Jack Kramer in 1923.
“He always plays with a lot of passion, a lot of energy and I know that he’s going to bring everything that he has that day, but