The genie might be out of the bottle but Federer's slice backhand is still very much alive

Former world number one Roger Federer’s slice in the Laver Cup warmup left the tennis fans excited.

The 42-year-old announced his retirement from the sport in September 2022 after struggling with fitness concerns for some time.

A video appeared on social media where Federer was seen playing a delightful slice ahead of the Laver Cup that sent the fans into a frenzy and they expressed their opinion on social media platform X — previously known as Twitter.

Federer is often termed as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s singles tennis in the Open era.

The Basel-born ended his career with 20 Grand Slam titles, an impressive feat to say the least. He is third in the list of men’s players with most major titles, only behind current world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.

However, Federer was the first player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era to win 15 or more Grand Slam titles. He was also the first male player to win 20 singles major titles in the Open era.

His most successful competition was Wimbledon where he ended up lifting the title eight times — 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2017. It is still a record in the tournament’s history.

His last big victory came in 2018 when he defeated Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the final with a score of 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 to lift the Australian Open.