Roger Federer was 'truly dreading' retirement, but it was 'beautiful' alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Roger Federer has revealed he was “dreading” his retirement from tennis, but his Laver Cup farewell turned to be “everything and more”. The 20-time Grand Slam champion stepped away from the sport last summer in emotional fashion at the O2 Arena in London. Ad Federer’s final match was doubles alongside great rival Rafael Nadal, with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic also in attendance.

WimbledonWhat are the tie-break rules at Wimbledon in 2023?A DAY AGO Federer, 41, had seemingly been planning to return to the tour following knee surgeries before announcing his retirement plans. “I didn’t talk to anybody about it, really,” he told CNN. “It was just more about getting away from it, but eventually [I had to] decide: where am I going to retire? How painful is it going to be? Or how much of a celebration will it be? “But it ended up being everything and more for me.

I thought it was beautiful and being surrounded by Rafa, Novak [Djokovic], [Andy] Murray, [Bjorn] Borg, [John] McEnroe, [Rod] Laver, you name it, [Stefan] Edberg, they were all there, my team, my family. “So it was it was a very, very nice end because I was really, truly dreading that moment of how to go out of the game.” Federer was in attendance at Wimbledon on Tuesday as he was honoured with a special ceremony to celebrate his achievements. He won Wimbledon a record eight times, while reaching four other finals.