Roger Federer set for Canada return – ‘I’m going to be front and centre watching’
Roger Federer played his last professional match at the 2022 Laver Cup, but he will once again be part of this year’s celebrations as he will be honoured at the 2023 edition in Vancouver, Canada.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner bowed out of competitive tennis following his doubles encounter alongside his great rival Rafael Nadal at the O2 Arena in London in September last year.
That was an emotional occasion as both Federer and Nadal ended up sobbing during the post-match festivities with fellow greats Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also in attendance.
The Laver Cup show will head to Canada for the first time this year as Vancouver’s Rogers Arena will host the sixth edition of the team competition that pits Team Europe against Team World annually.
There will be no Federer and Nadal in the Team Europe line-up this year, but the former will be honoured as he will be in “Vancouver for the duration of the Laver Cup and will be invited onto the black court during the evening session on Friday, September 22 to mark the one-year anniversary of his last competitive match”.
In an interview, Federer talked about the team event, stating: “I’ll miss Laver Cup a lot. With my last match also played there with Rafa, Novak, Murray, everyone celebrating my career. It was a beautiful moment.
“I am very much looking forward to Vancouver and the Laver Cup being there. Only heard great things about the city so I am really looking forward to seeing how the Canadian fans will be, especially with their great players coming up.
“Definitely think Team World can do it again. They have a very strong already this year with Fritz, Felix and Tiafoe.
“I think the experience of the Laver Cup is like no other. I think going there for three, packed, intense days of tennis, seeing the best players in the world, un unbelievable tennis show, great experience, great venues, beautiful stadiums, everything a tennis lover needs to see once in their lives.
“I’m going to be front and centre watching so I could be more excited.”
Team World are the defending champions after they won the tournament for the first time last year and they have already confirmed Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Félix Auger-Aliassime for the tournament.
Bjorn Borg’s Team Europe will have Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev in their ranks with two more players still to be confirmed.
READ MORE: WATCH: Roger Federer back on court and he is learning a new skill
