‘I hope Rafael Nadal’s body is okay’ – Roger Federer’s injury concern for former rival revealed
Roger Federer has divulged that he was worried about Rafael Nadal’s physical state when following the progress of his former rival in the recent Swedish Open final.
The Swiss legend explained he still checks tennis scores “almost daily” and watches highlights and live matches when he has time.
Nadal looked spent as he struggled in a 3-6, 2-6 defeat to Nuno Borges in the final of the 2024 Swedish Open last month, following a demanding path to the title match.
The 38-year-old Spaniard had outlasted Mariano Navone in a gruelling four-hour quarter-final at the ATP 250 event and also went three sets in his semi-final win over Duje Ajdukovic.
Following his run to his 131st career ATP final in Bastad, Nadal competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he reached the second round in singles and the quarter-finals in doubles.
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After being asked whether he still watches tennis regularly during an interview with Vogue, Federer expressed both surprise and disappointment when he learned of Nadal’s result in Bastad.
“He lost? Oh, come on,” Federer said.” Three and two (the scoreline) Oh, God. Yeah, I saw he was down 1-0, love-40. That’s the last time I checked, a few hours ago, but when I saw the score, I was like, ‘Oh, no—I hope his body is okay.’
“So, yeah — I do check in with the game almost daily to see scores and results. Watching is a whole different thing — I love watching it when it’s on TV.
“We’ve been watching a ton of football as well — the Euros, and now the Olympics are coming up, so I’m going to watch all of that. I’m a big sports fan. But again, I’m always out and about and busy.
“But especially in the evening, when the day unwinds and I have time to sit back and maybe go on YouTube and watch some highlights, I tend to do that.
“I like to be up to speed on what’s going on, because the guys play nice, and I like to see what they’re doing.”
Federer partnered Nadal on the doubles court in the final match of his amazing 24-year career at the 2022 Laver Cup in London.
