Rafael Nadal opens up on ‘arguments’ off court with Roger Federer

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Rafael Nadal has admitted that he had a number of arguments with Roger Federer “off the court” during their time on the tour together. Nadal and Federer may have gone to battle 40 times in their careers with many of those meetings coming in Grand Slam finals, but the pair have always maintained a close bond.

That was none more evident than last week for Federer’s retirement at the Laver Cup when Nadal partnered up with his long-time rival in an emotional farewell on Friday night. The Spaniard was in tears after the doubles match as Federer said his goodbyes to the packed-out O2 arena.

Emotions were running high, encapsulated by pictures of the pair of them sitting on a bench together one final time with both crying alongside each other. Nadal has since admitted that he was told by Federer before his official retirement announcement that the Laver Cup would be his final event.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was seemingly going to pull out of the Laver Cup following another setback at the US Open where he said he needed to “fix things”. But a call from Federer asking him to join him at the Laver Cup for his final farewell convinced Nadal to return to the court.

Nadal then left London on Saturday, withdrawing from the Laver Cup due to ‘personal reasons’. Both Federer and Nadal spoke highly of one another at the event in a sign of their true friendship.

‘Fedal’ have gained legions of fans for their respect of each other, but Nadal has admitted that they did occasionally clash at times during their careers together. When asked in an interview with Spanish radio station Cope whether he had ever argued with Federer, Nadal said: “On the court no. Off it, yes.

“The relationship has always been great, but of course we’ve had differences of opinions off the court and have argued about it.” With Federer’s retirement, it brings an official end to their time together on tour with Nadal admitting last week that an “important part of my life is leaving”.

“I was shaking a little bit. Have been a difficult day to handle every single thing, and at the end everything become super emotional,” he added. “For me, have been huge honour to be a part of this amazing moment of the history of our sport, and at the same time a lot of years sharing a lot of things together.

“When Roger leaves the tour, yeah, an important part of my life is leaving too because all the moments that he have been next or in front me in important moments of my life. So have been emotional see the family, see all the people. Yeah, difficult to describe. But, yeah, amazing moment.”

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