Laver Cup sells tickets over € 40,000 for Federer’s farewell, but his presence is in doubt

Roger Federer A few days ago he announced his imminent retirement from tennis. The 41-year-old Swiss shared a moving letter on his social networks in which he said that his body, tired for more than 20 seasons on the circuit and due to hard recoveries after three surgeries on his right knee (the last, in August last year), sent him a clear message and that he felt it was time to end his professional career. “The Laver cup London will be my last ATP tournament, “he said.

The appointment was set: that match, which he himself devised and which will be played between Friday and Sunday next to O2 sand of the English capital, will be the last performance of the former world number one, winner of 103 titles and 20 Slams and one of the greatest players in history, for many the best. Although this Sunday a doubt arose: Will Federer really play the tournament or will he support his Team Europe teammates off the bench? According to the statements of his physical trainer Pietro PaganiniRoger – who arrived in London this Sunday- I have not decided yet.

“It will probably be a last minute decision, he has trained a lot to test himself, gather more information and understand if playing is a good idea or not,” Paganini said in a chat with the Swiss newspaper. Blick.

At the words of Severin LuthiRoger’s coach since 2007, who had also spoken cautiously of his presence at Laver.

“He’ll try to play, whether it’s singles or doubles, we’ll see. He wants to stay in the team and try to play,” Lüthi told the reporter. simone graf.

We will therefore have to wait until the weekend to find out if Federer will say goodbye to tennis on or off the court.

For this fifth edition, the Swiss will be accompanied by a Heart team. because in the team Europe there are also Spaniards Rafael Nadalthe Serbian Novak Djokovic and scotch Andy Murraythe other members of the Fantastic Fourand Norwegian Casper Ruudbrand new number two in the world, and the Greek one Stefanos Tsitsipas, sixth in the standings. Italian Matteo Berretti (15 °) will be the substitute.

With the red shirt Rest of the world -with the brothers John and Patrick McEnroe as captain and sub-captain – will play Diego Schwartzmann (17th), the Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime (13th), the Australian Alessio De Minauro (22nd) and Americans Francesca Tiafè (19th), Taylor Fritz (12 °) and Jack Sock (43 ° in double). another American, tommy paolo (29th), it will be ready to enter in case of need.

The Europeans, led by the Swiss Bjorn Borg Y Thomas Enqvisthas won all editions played so far.

September last year, played in Boston, was the only one in which Federer did not play. Is that the Swiss had ended his season after the defeat in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon versus Hubert Hurkacz (his last official match) and had already been operated on for his third surgery on his right knee. He was seen on one of the action days at TD Garden, walking with difficulty and with the help of crutches.

He has since faced a tough recovery, which has not gone as far as he and his team hoped. And last Thursday he announced that he will no longer play professionally.

His fans are thrilled to be able to enjoy him again – for the last time – with the racket in hand, dazzling with that extraordinary talent that made him a legend long before he announced his retirement. and maybe even playing a double with Nadal, his classic rival, with whom he had already formed pairs at Laver in Prague 2017at the debut of the competition.

Will Roger make their dream come true? Or will the public have to be content with seeing him on the bench, encouraging and training his teammates, as he does every time he plays in this tournament?

The madness for the tickets and the Laver format

The chance to witness the last match of Roger Federer’s career first-hand was a great temptation for many and tickets for the five sessions of the Laver cup (one day and one night on Friday and Saturday and only one Sunday) are sold out on the official sales website. There are few places available to attend training on Thursday, at 22.5 pounds (almost 37,000 pesos) each. Although, as often happens with this type of event, it is still possible to buy tickets on unofficial sales pages, albeit at incredibly inflated prices.

In place ViagogoFor example, the cheapest ticket available – in the highest sector of the stadium and for the daytime session on Friday, the least frequented – costs almost 380 euros, around 54 thousand pesos. A ticket to sit near the field on Saturday evening costs about 26 thousand euros, over three and a half million pesos. And the most expensive, a suite for the same session, about 44,500 euros, that is more than six million pesos.

These values ​​are much higher than those offered on the official page, with tickets starting at 18 pounds (just under 3 thousand pesos), the cheapest on Friday; and they reached 510 (about 83 thousand pesos), the most expensive of the others. Not even the packages to attend all the sessions – which were sold in advance – reached values ​​similar to those of the unofficial sites: the most expensive were 2,420 pounds (about 395 thousand pesos).

Despite the astronomical prices, Federer will bid farewell to a full stadium, in the fifth edition of a tournament which, while not an official ATP event (it does not award points for the ranking), usually attracts the biggest stars of the circuit.

The competition will consist of 12 matches, nine singles and three doubles, spread over three days. Each Friday win is worth one point; one on Saturday delivers two and each victory on Sunday, three. The first team to reach 13 becomes champion.

Each of the six players who make up a team – three classified by ranking, in the update following Roland Garros, and three chosen by the captain – will have to play one to two individual matches. And at least four members must play doubles. All matches are played best of three sets, with a 10 point tiebreaker if a third set is reached.