Google News 'Rafael Nadal can play an hour out of three sets but...', says former star
by SIMONE BRUGNOLI | VIEW 12600
Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios met in the singles match at the Laver Cup in Geneva in 2019. Federer beat Kyrgios 6-7, 7-5, 10-7 in one hour and 50 minutes for Team Europe's fourth win in five games and a 5-3 advantage over the two remaining games of the second day.
The Swiss lost just 19 points on serve and faced only one break opportunity, hitting the first set before sealing the deal with a consistent performance in the match tiebreaker. The Australian struggled further in his games, but took advantage of five of the seven break opportunities offered to Roger to keep in touch until the final moments of the match.
Nick struggled to get the first serve, fending off the first four break opportunities before Roger seized the fifth and took a 6-5 lead before holding zero in the next to introduce the game's tiebreaker. There, Federer took five straight points from being 2-0 down and stayed calm until the end, crossing the finish line at the 17th point when Kyrgios sent a long forehand to propel Team Europe 5-3 to the front before night games.
Rafael Nadal was there to cheer Roger on and give him some advice. Federer praised Nadal, liked the clarity in Nadal's voice and called him a problem solver after finding solutions in every situation.
Davydenko on Federer and Nadal
In a recent interview with Eurosport, former World No.
3 Nikolay Davydenko shared his opinion on the possibility of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal successfully returning from their respective injuries. "I think it will be hard for Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to return with such injuries," Davydenko said.
"Of course, the fans are going to beat me up now and say I'm talking nonsense. But if you feel it as it is, then they will already give way little by little. Maybe they will win something - I'm not saying that they will all lose," he added.
"But I don't think they can potentially win a five-set match. They can play an hour out of three sets, one and a half. And so you can play a tournament, but the main thing is that if something does not work out again, some kind of injury.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will go down in the rankings anyway," Davydenko continued. "They are not playing at all at the moment. I don’t know if they'll come to the court at all. We are talking about those who are now injured. We do not know when they will come out - we have to ask them."
