Rafael Nadal is used to pressure but even he will be feeling the nerves when he lines up alongside Roger Federer for the Swiss great’s final match.
Federer will bring the curtain down on his illustrious career by partnering Nadal in doubles at the Laver Cup after Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg granted the 20-time grand slam champion his wish to compete alongside his oldest and greatest rival.
The ‘GOAT Dream Team’, with 42 major titles between them, will face Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe of Team World at London’s 02 on Friday night.
“It’s a different kind of pressure,” said Nadal. “After all the amazing things that we shared together on and off court, to be part of this historic moment is going to be something amazing, unforgettable for me.
“I hope I can have a good chance to play at a decent level, and hopefully together we can create a good moment and maybe win a match. So let’s see.
“Of course being on court, having Roger next to me one more time will be something that I am very much looking forward to. I’m just very happy for that.
“It’s going to be difficult to handle everything, especially for Roger, without a doubt. For me, too. You know, at the end one of the most important players, if not the most important player, in my tennis career, is leaving.
“I’m going to try to do my best in every single way, to help to have this moment even more special than what it’s going to be.”
The Ryder Cup-style event also throws up the intriguing prospect of two more former world number ones, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, reprising their short-lived, and wholly unsuccessful, doubles partnership.
The gilded pair teamed up as teenagers at the Australian Open in 2006 and in Miami five years later – and lost in the first round both times.
“We were chatting about it last night, about different combinations and partnerships in the team, and obviously that’s up to the captain to decide that, but we have many great options in the team,” said Murray.
“Me and Novak would be a good one, yeah, but if we don’t, whoever steps out on the doubles court is going to be a top team.
“Obviously it will be fun to play with Novak again. Yeah, 2006 feels like a long time ago. We were chatting about that last night. I had hair, like, out here. Yeah, it would be fun to do that.”
The ‘big four’ all practiced together on Thursday afternoon, with Murray and Djokovic the other side of the net to Federer and Nadal.
However, Djokovic has his doubts over whether Borg would select him.
“I’m probably the worst doubles player on the team, so I don’t know if I would get picked,” he said.
“But if we get a chance to play, we hopefully win a match, because we lost both.”
Murray, making his debut at the event, will take on Australia’s Alex De Minaur in the evening’s first match.
In the day session Casper Ruud faces Sock and Stefanos Tsitsipas meets Diego Schwartzman.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here