Roger Federer surprised at how much he cried with Rafael Nadal after Laver Cup defeat

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The 20-time Grand Slam champion bade a highly emotional farewell to professional tennis at the O2 over the weekend, playing doubles alongside great rival and friend Rafael Nadal on Friday night before watching for the last two days of the Ryder Cup-style tournament court side with his team-mates that also included Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

The GOAT Dream Team's 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 11-9 defeat to Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe didn't take too much shine off the tear-jerking occasion, with Federer and Nadal both breaking down uncontrollable in tears during the speeches, ovations and a performance from singer Ellie Goulding that concluded the night.

“Of course was emotional,” he told Eurosport on Sunday after processing the moment. “I didn’t expect myself to be this emotional funnily enough because I really thought I had dealt with it plenty of times beforehand.

“But of course you add the atmosphere to it, you add the music to it everything was perfect, everything was beautiful.

“It was for me obviously a very special moment and special day. And I think that’s what I will remember the most is the faces, the hugs, the things I was able to tell the guys one last time. How much they have meant to me, what I wish them.

"And of course at one point I look over and I see Novak [Djokovic] also being emotional, my family, Andy [Murray] was completely gone at one point. I think we all had flashes of our careers going by and knowing that we were on borrowed time for so many years already."

Unfortunately Federer couldn't end the weekend with one last trophy, as Tiafoe proved to be the pantomime villain for a second time with a stirring comeback against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday.

A 1-6 7-6 (11) 10-8 victory for the US Open semi-finalist in the 11th match of the weekend saw John McEnroe’s group hit the magic 13-point mark first, winning by a 13-8 scoreline.

“Yeah, of course I’m disappointed. I was on the team, almost lost my voice and my hands hurt from clapping,” the 41-year-old admitted.

“We wish the result would be different. I told Andy (Murray) in the locker room, I don’t like losing. It’s not fun. It just leaves not the best taste, you know. I think once you have been there and taste success, it’s just not the same.

“I hope tonight can be still somewhat of an enjoyable evening. Of course this weekend has been all over the place for me. I enjoyed it, but it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get the win.”

Captain Roger?

Andy Murray has backed Federer to captain Team Europe in the future, especially after Bjorn Borg confirmed the sixth edition in Vancouver next year will be his last.

“I’m sure Roger is going to stay involved in the event in some capacity and maybe one day captain the team,” Murray predicted.

“Look, he’s great on the side. He watches a lot of tennis, he loves the game. I think for ex-players that go into coaching, I think that’s important to sort of stay current and know a lot of the players.

“You know study the matches and stuff to understand the players’ strengths and weaknesses. Yeah, I don’t know if that’s something that he will go into, but I hope he remains part of tennis.

“He said he would. Like I said, I’m sure he will be here. Maybe he does a little bit of TV. I know how much he loves Wimbledon. Yeah, great for tennis if he can stay around a little bit.”

Federer's words of wisdom

Novak Djokovic was a big part of the weekend and expressed his hope that Federer will turn his hand to coaching.

He said with a smile: “I think that Roger can offer a lot. I mean…it’s logical to expect him to be able to share so many useful and valuable things with anybody really.

“If he ever would consider doing that, I’m sure that he’s going to bring a lot of positive things to the improvement of that player, whether male or female, in every aspect on and off the court. He’s undoubtedly one of the greatest players to play the game, the way he played it, with his style and effortlessness.”

Comeback tour?

Federer has also hinted at a potential farewell tour, just not in a professional capacity.

“I have no plans whatsoever like where, how, when. All I know is I would love to go and play places I have never played before or go say thank yous for years to come to all the people that have been so supportive of me,” he said during a press conference that did not finish until after 2am on Saturday.

“Because the hard part about the Laver Cup was that tickets were already sold out. You know, the people who maybe would have also loved to be here couldn’t make it.

“Maybe there is another way down the stretch we can party all together.”

Nadal on the 'beautiful friendship'

Nadal, who will forever hold a 26-14 upper-hand over Federer in singles’, talked in depth about their “beautiful” friendship that developed over a rivalry that all started back in 2004.

He said: “Wow, difficult. I have to say that first couple of serves for me were super difficult. I was shaking a little bit. Has been a difficult day to handle every single thing and at the end everything became super emotional.

“For me, it has been a huge honour to be a part of this amazing moment of the history of our sport and at the same time a lot of years sharing a lot of things together.

“When Roger leaves the tour, yeah, an important part of my life is leaving too.

“On court we have completely opposite styles and that’s what probably makes our matches and our rivalry probably one of the biggest and most interesting.

“But in the family life, personal life, probably we approach life not in a very different way, no? So that’s why we can trust each other, we can speak very often and we’re able to speak very feeling free, feeling confident.

“Having somebody like Roger that I feel confident to talk about any personal thing, it’s something that is very beautiful after all the things that we shared together and all the important things that we fought for such a long time.”