Roger Federer feared Rafael Nadal might retire before him due to injuries

Former world number one Roger Federer has revealed that he was worried that Spain’s legendary tennis star Rafael Nadal would retire before him because of fitness concern. The 37-year-old is often regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles.

Nadal has struggled with fitness concerns in recent years, and because of this, he missed three out of the four Grand Slams last year. In 2023, after consistent fitness struggles, Nadal announced that the 2024 season would be his last at the highest level.

Federer, who is also regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won 20 Grand Slam titles, was recently quoted in a documentary released by Amazon Prime, where he spoke in detail about the kind of fitness problems Nadal faced in his career. The 42-year-old, who called it quits in September 2022, stated that he was worried that the former world number one would retire even before as he had too many injuries to deal with.

"I was worried that he would have to quit before me. There were signs that made me feel that he was not well. In fact, I thought he might retire after beating Medvedev in the final of the 2022 Australian Open. There or at Roland Garros. I would have been happy but him, but it would have been a shock."

Nadal returned to the court earlier this season but suffered another niggle during the Brisbane International. It was enough to keep him out of the Australian Open, as he missed two months of action. The four-time French Open winner finally made a comeback just before the start of the Barcelona Open but has since struggled to live up to the expectation. He recently participated in the French Open, where he was knocked out after losing in the first round to Alexander Zverev with a score of 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.