Roger Federer looked sharp as he took to the court to hit some balls ahead of the 2023 Laver Cup, much to the delight of fans on social media.
In a video shared on Twitter, the 20-time Grand Slam champion showcased his slice backhand on the indoor hard-court that will be used for this year’s Laver Cup.
The Swiss legend appears to be demonstrating how to hit a slice to a group of children watching closely, and the young players could not ask for a better coach for the shot. Federer’s slice backhand is one of his trademark strokes and is widely regarded as being one of the finest in the history of tennis.
Many fans commented expressing their joy at seeing Federer back on court, while others declared they miss the 42-year-old in tennis.
The 2023 Laver Cup will be held from 22-24 September at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. This will be the sixth edition of the exhibition team competition – which Federer formed in 2017 – where two teams featuring players from Europe and the rest of the world compete.
Federer represented Team Europe in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 and brought an end to his incredible 24-year career after last year’s edition. He partnered friend and rival Rafael Nadal in doubles at the event last year for his final match.
Roger Federer hitting his legendary slice backhand at Laver Cup.
Arguably the cleanest slice tennis has ever seen.
He hasn’t lost a step. 🇨🇭
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 21, 2023
Team Europe hold a 4-1 edge from the five previous installments of the Laver Cup, but Team World are the current champions, having prevailed 13-8 at the O2 Arena in London in 2022.
Team Europe’s squad features Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Arthur Fils and Gael Monfils.
Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo make up Team World’s side.
Tennis legends Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who formed an iconic rivalry during their careers, are the captains of Team Europe and Team World respectively.
Federer recently spoke of how he and his agent Tony Godsick came up with the idea for the Laver Cup during the Shanghai Masters years ago.
“We started discussing how I think it would be great to have the best players get together and also have a place where the former greats can reunite and have a role to play,” said the 42-year-old.
“For me, it’s personally completely exceeded expectations. I never thought I was going to play in Geneva, [and] obviously also a little bit nostalgic for me to retire at The O2 [Arena], where I did play a lot of my matches.”
The Swiss reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2021 in the final singles tournament of his career, losing to Hubert Hurkacz in his last match. The former world No 1 won his last Grand Slam crown at the 2018 Australian Open and his final ATP title at the 2019 Swiss Indoors in Basel – his home tournament.
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