Federer: 'I was supposed to play doubles with Rafael Nadal in 2007 Madrid'
In September in Geneva, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be back teaming up in the Laver Cup after the unbelievable experience in 2017 in Prague when they played doubles together for the first time. In a recent interview, Federer said they were supposed to play in the doubles draw already many years ago: "The idea came up to me in Madrid indoors in 2007", the Swiss confessed. "That was not done. We thought we would do it the following week the following month and we did not manage to do it for ten years! Rafa is my greatest rival ever. I did not play alongside too many lefties in my career. You have to find the right timing."
Is the Laver Cup an exhibition or a real competition? "The goal is to create an event that will feature intense matches in the long term. I want it to become something serious. The idea is that players want to represent their team and play for the win without ATP Rankings points. You evolve as a team, a lot of people will agree with it. The pressure gets shared. It gets on many shoulders. Players give their best, motivated by captains and also to team up with guys who usually are their rivals."
Was John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg being captains something obvious? "Not at all. There was a debate. Finding two rivals was a dream. John is a personality that brought a lot to the game. He stayed in the world of tennis working as a TV commentator. I know that if he accepted, he would have done Grest. In a selfish way, i also wanted to spend time with Borg. His hero was Rod Laver and they are very close. But I did not know if Borg wanted to go out of the shine. He does not speak too much to the press. But he was interested to the concept. I am very emotional to spend a week with him. Younger guys do not know who Bjorn Borg is. His personality is unbelievable."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Vk1c5V
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