The last match of the first day of competition at the Laver Cup in London, England attracted great attention from tennis fans because it was the farewell match of professional tennis for Roger Federer.
Federer paired with Rafael Nadal representing the European team against Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe (world team). The match was filled with laughter, including Federer’s cross-net shot, in addition to many beautiful improvisations from the players.
Federer still showed a good ability to catch the net, scoring two important points to help the team save the break and preserve the 9th game in the first set. In the next game, Federer once again contributed in 2 decisive points to win the only break and won 6-4 in the first set.
In the second set, Federer and Nadal soon lost their break in game 3 after the error of catching the broken volley of “Express train”. However, the two players who won 42 Grand Slams did not let the opponent lead for too long.
After missing 3 break opportunities in game 4, Federer and Nadal equalized 3-3. In the game decisive score 6, the referee caught Tiafoe twice to let the racket touch the ball and score the opponent. In game 11, Federer and Nadal were leading 0-40 in the handover game but still equalized. The two players also saved 3 more break-points before closing the game lasting more than 10 minutes thanks to two mistakes of the opponent.
In the tie-beak series, Tiafoe and Sock played well late in the course, while Nadal and Federer made many errors on the net. The European pair lost 4 serve points and lost 2-7.
The ability to catch the net is still shown by Federer. Photo: Reuters.
The match entered a super tie-break series to determine the winner. Federer and Nadal led 3-0 but let the opponent score 4 points, including Sock’s impressive score from Federer’s smash hit.
In a fierce pursuit of points, Federer and Nadal missed the opportunity to end the match when leading 9-8. The world pair scored 3 points at the end of the match in which Sock hit a forehand along the line to help the team win.
This is the second match of Federer and Nadal when paired together in the Laver Cup, after the first time in 2017. At that time, the two players overcame Sam Querry and Jack Sock after 3 sets with the scores 6-4, 1- 6 and 10-5.
On September 15, Federer announced his retirement on his personal page and said that the Laver Cup was his last ATP tournament. “Of course, I will play more tennis in the future. However, I will not attend the Grand Slam or the ATP Tour anymore. This is a bitter and sweet decision,” Federer wrote.
According to Duy Luan – Zing.vn | 06:38 September 24, 2022
