{"id":1655528,"date":"2022-09-23T17:52:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T21:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1655528"},"modified":"2022-09-23T17:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T21:52:58","slug":"tennis-fans-flock-to-pay-homage-to-federer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennis-fans-flock-to-pay-homage-to-federer\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis-Fans flock to pay homage to Federer"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftennis-fans-flock-to-pay-homage-to-federer%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1655528&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Martyn Herman<\/p>\n<p>LONDON (Reuters) \u2013     Fans flocked from far and wide to pay homage to Roger Federer as the Swiss tennis great brought down the curtain on his glittering career at London\u2019s O2 Arena on Friday.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\">\n<\/div>\n<p>The 41-year-old was set to play with great rival Rafa Nadal in the evening doubles slot on the opening day of the Laver Cup in what will be his last professional match.<\/p>\n<p>Federer, a 20-times Grand Slam champion and regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, announced last week that a persistent knee injury meant he was ending his 24-year career.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for his match with Europe team mate Nadal against American duo Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock were like gold dust.<\/p>\n<p>But some fans got lucky.<\/p>\n<p>Many walking into the Thames-side venue where eight-times Wimbledon champion Federer won the ATP Finals title in 2010 and 2011 were draped in Swiss red and white and had handkerchiefs at the ready for what promised to be an emotional evening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is one of the best ambassadors for Switzerland so I\u2019m super happy to be here,\u201d 31-year-old Sonya Carvallares from Zurich told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is more than just a tennis player he is an icon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Federer has not played a competitive match since last year\u2019s Wimbledon and Carvallares said the news that he was ending his golden career was sad, but expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe saw it coming right, he is not eternal. On a personal level I\u2019m very happy we got the tickets for today especially now. But it\u2019s mixed feelings in a way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn terms of number he\u2019s not the greatest, but in our hearts he is the greatest. I think it\u2019s going to be emotional, I might have a few tears in the eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>GLOBAL APPEAL<\/p>\n<p>While many fans came from Europe, Federer\u2019s unique appeal spans the globe.<\/p>\n<p>Miraaj el-Haque, dressed in a sweatshirt emblazoned with Federer\u2019s caricature and the slogan \u201cGreatest of All Time\u201d travelled all the way from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe entire first chapter of my life from when I was five to now I\u2019m 23\u2026.I\u2019ve known nothing but him in the sports world,\u201d he said outside the O2 Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what makes Federer so special, he said: \u201cI think how relatable he is, and how much of a role model he is and how he makes a fan feel when he plays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think his connection with the fans is something I don\u2019t think any other player will have for a while.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way he makes you feel, the way he plays the game, the way he conducts himself off the court, I think all those factors make him the greatest athlete in any sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sadra Mahoob travelled from Tehran to watch Federer for one last time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoger is a superstar in Iran, everyone knows about him and had the dream to watch him in a live match,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Swiss student Aurille von Ruht said the finale, with Nadal, was the perfect way for Federer to go out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRafa and Roger are two beautiful players and two beautiful people, so I\u2019m happy Roger gets to finish like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/sports\/tennis-fans-flock-to-pay\/attachment\/laver-cup-8\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0Z1-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0Z1-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/sports\/tennis-fans-flock-to-pay\/attachment\/laver-cup-9\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0Z2-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0Z2-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/sports\/tennis-fans-flock-to-pay\/attachment\/laver-cup-6\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0W1-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0W1-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/sports\/tennis-fans-flock-to-pay\/attachment\/laver-cup-7\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0VS-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8M0VS-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) \u2013 Fans flocked from far and wide to pay homage to Roger Federer as the Swiss tennis great brought down the curtain on his glittering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1655528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}