Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will team up in doubles at the Laver Cup on Friday in what is set to be the Swiss great's final match of a long and illustrious career.
The 41-year-old Federer will play competitively for the last time in London, turning out for Team Europe alongside Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic – the three biggest rivals of his 24-year career.
Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, has struggled with knee injuries in recent years and multiple surgeries finally took their toll.
The order of play released by the organisers for the opening day of the tournament – founded by Federer’s management company – showed the Swiss great and Nadal will play the last match of the evening at London's O2 Arena against the American pair of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
Federer and Nadal will pair up for Team Europe against the Team World duo of US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock.
“I'm not sure if I can handle it all but I'll try,” said Federer. “This one feels a whole lot different. I'm happy to have him on my team and not playing against him.
“Playing with Rafa feels really different. To be able to do it one more time, I'm sure it will be wonderful and I'll try my very best. I'll enjoy it but it will be very hard.”
Nadal said he was looking forward to an unforgettable doubles pairing with Federer.
“One of the most important, if not the most important players in my tennis career is leaving,” the Spaniard said on Thursday.
“At the end, this moment will be difficult. I'm super-excited and grateful to play with him.”
They have played each other 40 times in all, with Nadal winning 26 times. The Spaniard came out on top in their classic 2008 Wimbledon final, considered by many the greatest match in history; while Federer won their last showdown, in the 2019 semi-finals at the All England Club.
The singles matches at the Laver Cup will be two-time Grand Slam runner-up Casper Ruud against Sock, and 2021 French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas against Diego Schwartzman during the day session, and three-time major champion Murray against Alex de Minaur at night, before the Federer-Nadal doubles match.
Italian Matteo Berrettini, the first alternate for Europe, will take Federer's place over the weekend.
Federer hasn’t competed in singles or doubles since a quarter-final loss at Wimbledon to Hubert Hurkacz in July 2021.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
Set-jetting on the Emerald Isle
Other shows filmed in Ireland include: Vikings (County Wicklow), The Fall (Belfast), Line of Duty (Belfast), Penny Dreadful (Dublin), Ripper Street (Dublin), Krypton (Belfast)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
