The legendary Roger Federer may have produced beautiful tennis during his peak years but it seems his judgement wasn’t always spot on when away from the court.
The Swiss maestro will attend the Laver Cup in Berlin this week, the same competition in which he said an emotional farewell to the sport in London in September 2022.
Team Europe are looking to bounce back in Berlin after being hammered 13-2 by Team World in Vancouver last year.
Captained by Bjorn Borg, the hosts will field a formidable line-up, headed by four time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.
At just 21, Alcaraz has already been billed as a future all-time great, expected to challenge Novak Djokovic’s current record haul of 24 Slam wins. But it seems Federer, 43, wasn’t so appreciative of the Spaniard’s talent when the pair met at Wimbledon several years ago.
“I barely know Carlos Alcaraz so I’m really excited to see him play for the very first time,” he explained on Tuesday. “I only practiced once with him at Wimbledon when he was still a junior.
“And then the next day, my coach said, ‘Do you want to warm up with him again?’ and I said, ‘No, it’s okay, I’d rather warm up with his coach, who was my generation, Juan Carlos Ferrero.’ I can apologise to Carlos this week.”
Alcaraz has since come across like a man keen to show Federer why he was wrong to snub him. Despite a gruelling season that has seen retain his title at SW19 and win a maiden French Open crown, he’s previously vowed to give his all to the team competition.
“I am excited to be part of the European team in this Laver Cup,” he said. “I have watched this event several times, so I am looking forward to it. I have always seen a great atmosphere on television, with coaching, supporting each other in every match, it is very fun. Additionally, I believe we have a great team that can bring back the title.”
He will be joined in Germany by team-mates Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas. And Federer, who played in winning European sides in 2017, 2018, and 2019, is confident his former team will recapture the trophy.
“I think that Team Europe is very strong this year, it’s stacked,” he added. “In the singles matches, we are heavy favourites even though I know that Team World has great players right now that are red hot and playing super well.
“I still think most of the matches in singles are going to go Team Europe’s way and then the doubles, I feel like most are going to go Team World’s way.”
Team USA will comprise of Taylor Fritz, France Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Alejandro Table, Francisco Cerundolo, and Thansai Kokkinakis. The event gets underway on Friday and runs until Sunday.
