Tennis legend Roger Federer stated that he miss playing with Rafael Nadal and also opened up about his friendship with the Spaniard.
The two legends shared the court 40 times and had some of the greatest moments together.
Federed, 41, talked about the early days of Nadal’s career and how he saw him growing up and turning into an all-time great.
“I'm five years older than Rafa. So when I came on tour, I saw young, junior Rafa come through and he was extremely good, very young, incredibly respectful and also very shy,” Federer said.
“So he had unbelievable respect for me, not that he doesn’t have now anymore, I guess it's different because we’re friendly. So earlier... With everything that I wanted to do on the tour and my ideas he was like, ‘You’re right!'”
Rafa then talked about their rivalry changed over the years as both grew older and stated that after time, they started talking about injuries and stuff instead of tennis.
“I think as we got older, we knew the time is ticking and we’re about to not see each other so much anymore. I started a family… that changes someone completely anyway. And we started to talk about totally different things in life… more about injuries and kids… he’s also a father now. So the conversations changed," he said.
Federer remembered his playing days against Nadal and wished he could go back in time to play against his now-friend one more time.
“We also started respecting the rivalry we used to have and we almost miss it, playing each other every other weekend. Back in the day we couldn’t stand each other probably for that but he is a great man and I wish he can come back one more time," he said.
Federer and Nadal played each other a total of 40 times. The Spaniard lead the battle 24-16 overall including 14-10 in the finals.