Roger Federer used to hide his crutches when posing for photos. His knee was in terrible shape and in 2021 had him on the brink of retirement, but the world didn’t need to know he was struggling to walk. Very different from Rafael Nadal.
“I didn’t want my opponent or the world or the press needing to know about every step of the way of my injuries. Whereas on the other side, Rafa was super honest about his issues, and I’d be like, why is he saying all of that?”, he revealed on the podcast Served, with former tennis player Andy Roddick and journalist Jon Wertheim.
And indeed, it’s hard to find photos of Federer on crutches. Nadal, by contrast, posted pictures of himself with them on social media, together with information about his injuries. Different styles.
“Me, I almost can’t get out of my chair with my bad back, but everybody thinks I’m perfect. So I don’t know what’s better or worse.”
Behind a career that included 20 Grand Slam titles and 310 weeks as world No. 1, there were carefully calculated decisions. For Federer, every detail mattered. He didn’t want to give away even the slightest advantage.
“It was definitely hard the last years, especially navigating the media, where I knew I was maybe at 80% at certain times and they judged me at 100%. I knew I wasn’t, and it was hard for the team because everybody was trying to keep quiet about how bad things really were.”
As he explained in San Francisco, host city of the 2025 Laver Cup, the secrecy had a clear purpose: “I did it to protect myself, so my opponent doesn’t know: ‘okay, bad knee, really bad knee, make him run around.’”
“I was always famous for never being injured,” said Federer, who never retired from a match in his 1,526 career appearances.
“It’s my favourite stat in tennis,” added Roddick, host of the podcast where Federer appeared as a guest, recorded during the tournament the Swiss owns — an event that pits Team Europe against Team World.
“Once I got on court, I dealt with it and finished it, even though many times I didn’t feel perfect: I had back issues, hand issues, foot issues. But never anything like the knee.”
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
It was his right knee that finally ended his career. In 2022, after failed comeback attempts, he chose the Laver Cup for his last match. There, surrounded by his great colleagues and rivals — with Nadal holding his hand — he cried in farewell.
“My knee was getting so silly, and I realized I couldn’t really come back anymore. So I took a summer break, and then I had to really almost just get out of the sport. But the question was, like, where was it gonna be? And then I either looked at, I guess, US Open, Swiss Indoors in Basel, or Laver Cup in London.”
“Somehow, something resonated with me that I didn’t wanna be alone on court when I retired. And the team aspect, I feel like I’ve always been a team player at heart.”
Since leaving professional tennis, Federer has devoted much of his time to business. One of them is the Laver Cup, which he runs with his friend, agent and business partner, Tony Godsick.
