ROGER FEDERER RETIRES : TENNIS HONOURS SPECIAL

 

A fitting farewell with his friends. Roger Federer is retiring after the event, where he will play on Team Europe.

When he announced his retirement from professional tennis last week, Roger Federer put a cap on one of the most storied careers in the sport.

That he chose to end the competitive play at the Laver Cup, The Ryder Cup-style event that he and his management team founded in 2017 as a chummy atmosphere of star players to showcase great tennis, speaks volumes.

He will say goodbye to his fans while competing alongside his greatest rivals - Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray - demonstrating just how important the Laver Cup, which starts on Friday in London, is and will continue to be for Federer.

''This is a bittersweet decision because I will miss everything the tour has given me,'' he said on Twitter on Sept-15. 

''But at the same time there is so much to celebrate. I consider myself one of the most fortunate people on Earth. I was given a special talent to play tennis, and I did at a level that I never imagined, for much longer than I ever thought possible.''

The Big Four, as they have been known, have faced-off countless times at Grand Slam events, but never have they been teamed together, until this weekend, when they form the nucleus of Team Europe in the Laver Cup.

Those four players have been formidable. Between them, they have won 329 ATP titles over the last two decades.

They have amassed 66 major championships, including 19 at Wimbledon, 17 at both the Australian and French Opens and 13 at the United States Open.

They have won more than 4,000 matches and earned nearly half a billion dollars in prize money.

Every year since 2004, one of them has ended the season ranked No. 1 in the world. Federer, the oldest at 41, won his first match in September 1998 just after his 17th birthday, when he beat Guillaume Raoux at Toulouse, France.

The World Students Society thanks author Cindy Shmerler.