Veteran greats Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer have dropped a bombshell on the tennis world by announcing they intend to compete at the 2022 Laver Cup in September. It will be the fifth edition of ‘Ryder Cup style’ event and will take place in London’s O2 Arena.
Federer has been away from competitive tennis since July due to a knee injury which required surgery. He suggested he will know when he will be able to return to the court by April but already seems prepared to commit himself to the Laver Cup in the Autumn.
The Swiss has recently seen his world ranking drop to it’s lowest since 2001 to No 30. More importantly though, he was recently overtaken by Nadal in the all-time Grand Slam rankings. Nadal won his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open last month to edge ahead of Federer & Novak Djokovic on 20 slams each. Federer will be eyeing the Wimbledon Championships which start in June as his next attempt at a Grand Slam. He has won a record 8 titles at SW19 and the event will be considered his best chance of adding to his major victories.
Both Nadal & Federer have released statements confirming their desire to play for Team Europe with Nadal suggesting he would like to play doubles together with his great friend and rival. It is unlikely team captain Bjorn Borg will need too much persuading to pick the two superstars and it will certainly add an extra sparkle to proceedings should they both compete in London.
“Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal” by nick step is licensed under CC BY 2.0.