Laver Cup: on the eve of Federer’s farewell, Big 4 meeting and a postcard for history

The 2022 edition of the Laver cup will forever be remembered as the last tournament in Roger Federer. The Swiss will play his last game this Friday, with Rafael Nadal, his greatest rival and also his friend, as a companion. It will be in the doubles that the curtain will fall on the first day of competition, around 17:00 in Argentina. But, as if to warm and appease the anxiety of the fans, the O2 Arena in London has already experienced this Thursday a historic day, in which the members of the Large 4 They shared the pitch in an unprecedented and unmissable training session.

On one side of the network, Roger and Rafa. Of the other, Novak Djokovic Y Andy Murray. Sixty-six Grand Slam titles on the same field. Four tennis titans who have dominated the circuit for the past two decades. A double that, despite not having the intensity of a match, made the thousands of people who bought tickets to attend the trainings vibrate and literally filled the stands of the imposing English stadium. And a postcard that the tennis world will never forget.

“The big 3 plus a clown”Murray joked in a post on his Instagram account, in which he shared “the picture” with his peers, as if to part ways with that trio who are quite ahead of him when it comes to big trophies and number one weeks.

The Scotsman has won three majors in his career, the US Open 2012 and Wimbledon 2013 and 2016, and spent 41 weeks at the top of the chart, between November 2016 and August 2017.

Nadal amasses 22 Grand Slams (two Australian Open14 Roland Garros, two Wimbledon and four US Open) and is the best winner of all time in that category. And he spent 209 weeks at the top of the world rankings.

Djokovic accompanies the Majorcan in the list of the most important titles in the most important category of tournaments. He owns 21, with nine consecrations in Melbourne, two in Paris, seven in All of England and three in New York. And he is the player who has led the longest ranking, 373 weeks.

Federer will retire with 20 “thousand” in his cabinets. Six in the Oceanic Grand Slam, one in French, eight in English and five in American. He holds the record for consecutive weeks in the first step of the ranking (237) and is second, behind the Serbian, in the accumulated weeks, with 310.

Murray, likewise, was one of the few players who posed a real threat to these three phenomena and the only one who managed to bring them down from above in those nearly two decades of hegemony, which have elapsed since Federer reached for the first time the number one. in February 2004, and Djokovic handed over the command to a member of the new generation for the first time (Daniel Medvedev) in February of this year.

“You don’t see training sessions like this very often. It’s an absolute privilege to be on the pitch with these guys for the last time,” added the Scotsman after that opening line.

“A once in a lifetime experience, being on the same court with these legends and rivals. Thank you Laver Cup for making it possible. We look forward to a fantastic tennis weekend and a celebration of Roger Federer’s career,” wrote Djokovic. on Twitter, next to an image of the four, in the uniform of the Europe team (blue jacket and white pants), ready to go out on the pitch.

“Great 4. Great fun” (Big Four. Great fun), wrote the organization of the tournament along with a video that he posted on the networks with images of the training session, which had Stefanos Tsitsipas Y Matteo Berrettiother members of the European team that will go to its fifth consecutive title, as luxury spectators.

The photo of the four on the net went viral in seconds. Up to the American Andy Roddick, the last player to hold the top spot before the Big 4 era, celebrated the meeting of Federer and his colleagues. “This is great,” wrote the American in Twitter, in response to the image shared by Murray. The Swiss himself replied: “It would be even better if you were here AROD”.

Basically there were some fun rallies and some good points, but tennis finished second. Because what viewers enjoyed the most was seeing the Big 4 on the same pitch, which may never happen again. It was the perfect starter for what will happen this Friday, when the great Roger Federer plays his final game and brings the curtain down on an exceptional career.