New Delhi (IANS). Swiss tennis great Roger Federer believes his former rival Rafael Nadal could retire ‘on his own terms’ in view of injuries which have hampered the Spaniard from consecutive Grand Slam tournament appearances.
Nadal has been absent from competitive tennis since injuring a hip muscle during his second round loss to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January.
The 36-year-old was unable to take part in the French Open for the first time since 2004, a tournament in which he has been a dominant force for 18 years. In addition, he missed Wimbledon, a Grand Slam tournament he has won twice.
In the later stages of his career, Federer also suffered from a number of injuries which created significant challenges. Ultimately, Federer’s physical condition allowed him to conclude his remarkable career by participating in doubles matches with Nadal at the Laver Cup in London last year.
“I mean, all of us: (Andy) Murray, (Novak) Djokovic, Nadal and me, I think when I retired, all four of us sat there and cried about me retiring,” Federer told CNN. Was it – or because of the music, who knows.”
“Everyone had their reasons for crying. I think you will realize how lucky we are to still be playing at this late stage of our careers because tennis players used to retire at 30 .
“I mean, 26 for (Bjorn) Borg, 32 for (Pete) Sampras, 36 for (Andre) Agassi,” he said. It was like playing deep and now here we all are sitting around 35-40. We all know how lucky we are and so I think Rafa knew it too. So seeing him go through this more difficult phase now, obviously I’ve been there and I hope he can go out on his own terms [and] he can still play a little bit.”
Federer also expressed his desire to make Nadal’s final year on the tennis circuit more competitive, as the 22-time Grand Slam champion said in May that next season would be his last on tour.
