Latest news with #Federer
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal team up, throw a challenge: 'Anyone Ready...?'
Rafael Nadal (left) and Roger Federer (Instagram) Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, known for their epic battles on the tennis court, took their legendary rivalry to a new arena on Sunday. The duo swapped the tennis court for the golf course. The two icons traded racquets for clubs at the scenic Pula Golf Resort in Mallorca, enjoying a light-hearted round under the sun. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! While Nadal holds a 24-16 edge in their Lexus ATP Head-to-Head record, their match this time was all about fun and friendship. The longtime rivals shared laughs and relaxed swings, embracing the change of pace with smiles and camaraderie. Last week, Roger was spotted visiting Nadal's Academy in Manacor along with his wife Mirka and the rest of his family. This visit testifies to the sincere friendship between these two legends of modern sport, who have cultivated an excellent relationship even off the court. Nadal, a seasoned golfer with a single-digit handicap, appeared right at home on the fairways. Federer, cool and composed as ever, looked just as sharp—confidently reading the greens and lining up his putts like a seasoned pro. Their golf day followed Federer's surprise appearance at the Rafa Nadal Academy — the latest stop in what fans are calling the 'Big 3 Summer Tour.' Just days earlier, Federer was spotted courtside at Wimbledon supporting Novak Djokovic, and in May, he joined both Djokovic and Andy Murray at Roland Garros for Nadal's special farewell tribute. Federer, a six-time Nitto ATP Finals champion, wrapped up his career with a 1251-275 win-loss record. Nadal, the King of Clay and 14-time Roland Garros champion, boasts a 1080-228 record — numbers as iconic as the friendship they now share. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Tatler Asia
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
9 most stunning tennis courts around the world
2. Enchantment Resort, Arizona, USA Set within the red rock formations of Boynton Canyon, the tennis courts at Enchantment Resort bring a surreal sense of scale. Morning matches come with crisp desert air and a cinematic glow as sunlight hits the sandstone. The resort offers lessons with USPTA-certified pros, though it's just as tempting to simply rally and soak in the silence. 3. Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France A favourite of film stars and fashion editors during Cannes season, this Riviera icon also houses immaculately maintained clay courts shaded by Aleppo pines. The atmosphere is decidedly old-world, with white-uniformed staff and the gentle clink of glasses from nearby terraces. It's the kind of place where a quick set easily turns into an afternoon affair. 4. Singita Sabora Tented Camp, Tanzania Tennis in the Serengeti may sound improbable, but Singita Sabora delivers. Its single court sits amid 350,000 acres of protected wilderness. Expect occasional giraffe sightings mid-game and no audience save for the rustle of the savannah. The surface is synthetic grass, ideal for barefoot play. This is not the place to perfect your topspin—more likely, you'll rethink your entire relationship with the sport. 5. Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE Perhaps the most photographed tennis court on this list, the helipad at the Burj Al Arab was temporarily converted for a rooftop exhibition match between Federer and Agassi in 2005. While not open to the public, it remains a symbol of Dubai's audacity. The hotel's standard courts are less vertiginous but still offer serious skyline views and the kind of service that borders on theatre. 6. Stanglwirt, Going am Wilden Kaiser, Austria In the Austrian Alps, this luxury eco-resort combines spa culture with high-performance tennis. The indoor courts feature floor-to-ceiling windows facing the mountains, while the outdoor clay courts feel lifted from a 1970s Bond film. Former professionals regularly host training camps here, making it a pilgrimage site for serious players who want altitude with their cross-court drills. 7. Four Seasons Resort, Nevis The Caribbean isn't short on picturesque courts, but Nevis stands out for its blend of scenery and serenity. Eleven courts are spread across lush gardens, many with views of the sea or Nevis Peak. The resort has a robust tennis programme with regular tournaments, clinics and guest pros. Between matches, the plunge pool beckons—refreshment is never far. 8. Soneva Fushi, Maldives Tucked deep in the jungle on a private island in the Baa Atoll, Soneva Fushi's tennis courts are a masterclass in barefoot luxury. There's a choice between open-air or covered Olympic-sized courts, both surrounded by tropical greenery and cooled by ocean breezes. Guests can book sessions with resident pros or visiting stars through the resort's 'Soneva Stars' programme. It's tennis reimagined. 9. Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Bermuda Set above the pastel shores of Sinky Bay, the Hamilton Princess features three tennis courts in an unexpected hue—pink. Framed by palms and just steps from the private beach club, these hard courts are fully functional yet distinctly photogenic. Lessons with on-site pros are available, and equipment is complimentary for guests. It's a place where the sport feels playful, a little surreal and utterly of its surroundings. These tennis courts aren't just backdrops—they're destinations in themselves. Whether you play like a pro or barely hold a racquet, visiting one of these sites offers a reminder that the beauty of sport lies as much in its setting as its technique.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
5 Smart Deals That Turned Roger Federer Into A Billionaire
Image via Instagram/Roger Federer Roger Federer has officially smashed records off the court—becoming one of the rare billionaires in global sports. While his $130 million in prize money from 20 Grand Slam wins is remarkable, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Federer's billion-dollar fortune was built by making power moves in the business world—long after the final point was played. The Swiss Maestro mastered the art of brand building, smart investments, and lucrative endorsements, creating a personal empire worth $1.3 billion. In this article, we break down the five most game-changing business strategies Federer used to become a global billionaire athlete, offering a blueprint for success beyond sports. 1. A Game-Changing $300 Million Uniqlo Deal In 2018, Federer made global headlines by walking away from his long-term deal with Nike. Critics called it risky, but Federer had a smarter play. He signed a jaw-dropping $300 million, 10-year deal with Japanese retail giant Uniqlo—without any performance or appearance clauses. This means Federer earns millions annually, even in retirement. The partnership allowed Federer to build a lifestyle brand rather than just being another sports ambassador. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like A stress-relief game that everyone around me is playing Elvenar - Play on Browser Learn More Undo Today, the Uniqlo deal is a masterclass in long-term brand value. 2. The $500 Million Sneaker Bet on 'On' When his wife introduced him to Swiss running shoe startup 'On,' Federer didn't just sign a sponsorship deal—he became a co-owner. In 2019, Federer took a 3% stake in On instead of a payout. Fast forward to 2021, the company went public with a staggering $11 billion valuation. Federer's stake is now valued at over $500 million, with On continuing to soar globally. This move shows how Federer evolved from brand ambassador to equity shareholder, reaping exponential returns. 3. Building the Money-Making Machine: Team8 In 2013, Federer took athlete representation into his own hands by co-founding Team8, a management agency, alongside his trusted agent Tony Godsick. Team8 doesn't just manage Federer—it scouts and represents elite players like Coco Gauff and rising stars, creating a revenue-generating platform. Team8 also co-produces premium events like the Laver Cup, giving Federer equity in global sports entertainment. This brilliant vertical integration means Federer profits from multiple levels of the sports industry. 4. Breaking into Luxury Fashion with Oliver Peoples Federer's business genius doesn't stop at sports. In 2023, he teamed up with luxury eyewear brand Oliver Peoples under Essilor Luxottica to launch the exclusive RF x Oliver Peoples collection. With sleek designs inspired by Federer's personal style, the brand quickly became a hit among luxury shoppers. This move expanded Federer's brand identity into high-end fashion, showing how sports stars can thrive in luxury markets. 5. Cashing in Big on Premium Endorsements and the Laver Cup Federer's off-court fortune is supercharged by long-term global endorsements with powerhouse brands like Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Moët & Chandon, Barilla, Wilson, and Lindt. In 2023 alone, Federer banked over $95 million from endorsements. Plus, the Laver Cup—co-founded by Federer—is now a global tennis event generating millions in sponsorships and ticket sales. Federer's ability to keep cash flowing even after retirement proves why he's called the 'Billion Dollar Gentleman' of tennis. Roger Federer didn't just dominate tennis—he reinvented athlete entrepreneurship. With sharp business instincts and world-class brand-building skills, Federer turned his sports legacy into an unstoppable financial empire. His journey from tennis champion to billionaire businessman proves one thing: true greatness isn't just about winning titles—it's about creating lasting value. Federer's business playbook is a masterclass in wealth-building, inspiring athletes and entrepreneurs worldwide to think beyond the game and invest in their future. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
News18
6 days ago
- Sport
- News18
Fedal Reunite! Federer Visits Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca
Roger Federer visited the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca with his family, welcomed by Nadal. The visit follows their appearance at the Roland Garros tribute in May. Roger Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam champion, paid a special visit to the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, Mallorca on Thursday morning, accompanied by his wife Mirka and their children. This marks Federer's latest return to the academy, following his role as guest of honour at its inauguration in 2016, and a previous visit in January 2024. Federer was warmly welcomed by his longtime rival and friend Rafa Nadal, who personally gave him a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities. During the visit, several fortunate academy students had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet both tennis legends, take photographs, and be inspired by their presence. 👋🏼 @rogerfederer! Really enjoyed our morning together at the @rnadalacademy! 🤗 — Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) July 17, 2025 This reunion comes shortly after the pair were last seen together on May 25, during the Roland Garros tribute ceremony at Court Philippe Chatrier, where Nadal was honoured for his legendary achievements at the French Open. Nadal's Emotional Farewell to the Sport Nadal bid farewell to professional tennis in November 2024, representing Spain one final time at the Davis Cup Finals in Málaga. Physical struggles had increasingly limited his ability to compete at his usual level, and his final career title remains the 2022 Roland Garros crown—his record-extending 14th in Paris. His swan song in Málaga didn't go as hoped, which made the Roland Garros 2025 ceremony all the more poignant. The celebration was attended by members of the iconic 'Big Four," including Federer, as a tribute to Nadal's immense contributions to the sport. Federer and Nadal together created one of the greatest rivalries in sports history. Their contrasting styles—Federer's elegant precision versus Nadal's relentless power—produced some of the most unforgettable matches ever played. Chief among them is the 2008 Wimbledon final, widely regarded as the greatest tennis match of all time. Between them, they secured 42 Grand Slam titles, brought tennis to unprecedented global popularity, and captivated fans with their unmatched passion and competitiveness. Legacy of Friendship and Respect Beyond the baseline, Federer and Nadal's relationship evolved into a deep and mutual friendship, defined by admiration and sportsmanship. Their emotional moment at the 2022 Laver Cup, where they played doubles together in Federer's farewell match, remains etched in fans' hearts as a symbol of respect and camaraderie. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: Federer was grace personified, Djokovic is triumph of discipline
In August 2006, the New York Times published an essay by writer David Foster Wallace titled Roger Federer as Religious Experience. If you've never read it, you should. Just like the subject of the piece, the words move on the page like phosphenes, those strange sensations of light experienced when there is no light to cause them. The essay began 'Almost anyone who loves tennis and follows the men's tour on television has, over the last few years, had what might be termed Federer Moments. These are times, as you watch the young Swiss play, when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you're O.K.' So rapturous was Wallace in his praise of Federer that it crowned the young Swiss prince not just as the greatest tennis player of his generation but as the living embodiment of a transcendent ideal—grace manifest in muscle and nerve. 'Federer Moments,' Wallace called those brief, almost mystical episodes when physics itself seemed suspended by the beauty of Federer's game. But if Federer was the epiphany—something you could describe only in metaphors of religion or poetry—Novak Djokovic has always belonged to another register entirely. Where Federer floated, Djokovic grinds. Where Federer appeared to be a platonic form made flesh, Djokovic is unromantic, stubborn, clinical. Yet in his own way, he was no less sublime. He simply belongs to a more modern, less sentimental vision of excellence. Wallace found Federer's grace almost unbearable to witness, as if the body should not be able to do what it did with such serenity. Djokovic produces no such illusion. His movement is elastic rather than smooth, and his game is an extended demonstration of tensile strength. If Federer was balletic, Djokovic is contortionist—sliding, stretching, and twisting in patterns that seem to defy orthopedics more than physics. Watching Djokovic defend against a blistering forehand in the corner, then regain his balance and redirect pace up the line, isn't like witnessing an angel—it's like watching a human machine engineered to solve any problem thrown at it. In this way, Djokovic is a kind of democratising force in tennis. Federer inspired reverence; Djokovic, respect, and sometimes resentment. For the millions of club players who know that tennis is a sport of toil in rather than be an epiphany, Djokovic represents the truth: the unending repetition, the unwavering concentration, the capacity to adapt. Federer once said he never practiced sliding on hard courts—he simply did it. Djokovic, by contrast, has trained every facet of his technique, from his gluten-free diet to his breathing exercises to gain the last marginal advantages. If Federer was grace personified, Djokovic is the triumph of discipline over chaos. And it is precisely this contrast that makes Djokovic's accomplishments feel harder-won, even as they have surpassed or matched Federer's statistical records. Federer's career arc was a kind of narrative perfection: the young genius rises, dominates, then gracefully ages. Djokovic's has been messier, more contentious. He crashed the Federer-Nadal duopoly as an interloper, endured years of doubt about his mental toughness, and then transformed himself into an all-surface juggernaut. But that juggernaut is finally slowing. Sunday's encounter between Carlos Alcaraz (22) and Jannick Sinner (23) marked the first time since 2017 that the men's final will not include Djokovic, who had played for the Wimbledon title in 10 of the previous 12 years. It seems that Father Time may finally have broken the Serbian's serve. How interesting it wil be to watch whether the greatest tennis paper of all time on paper receives a similar send off to the games poet laureate. Wallace's paean to the class of Federer spoke to a reverence Djokovic has never enjoyed. He wrote that Federer was so beautiful it 'makes us feel as if we're observing a creature whose abilities are qualitatively different from our own.' Djokovic feels uncannily human. That is, he seems like someone who simply refused to be defeated by limits. He didn't emerge from the womb with effortless genius; he became great by iteration, by solving each of his game's weaknesses. His backhand return is now the best in history, not because of some inborn gift but because he turned it into a weapon through relentless work. This, too, is sublime, though of a more modern, unsentimental sort. In Djokovic, we see not a divine talent but a parable of improvement: the possibility that any failing can be corrected. Even his mental fortitude, once considered fragile, has become his defining advantage. Consider the 2019 Wimbledon final against Federer, where he saved two championship points on Federer's serve. Federer had always been the model of poise, but in that moment, Djokovic's resilience was the decisive factor. If Federer Moments made tennis feel religious, Djokovic's greatness feels almost algorithmic: an optimisation problem solved in real time. And this makes some fans uneasy. We long for the illusion that genius is innate, ineffable, something you either have or don't. Djokovic demolished that idea. He is proof that greatness can be engineered by systematising improvement and controlling every variable. In a way, that is more radical—and more threatening to our romantic ideals—than Federer's effortless beauty. Yet Djokovic is also capable of moments that approximate transcendence, though they are built less from grace than from an almost masochistic determination. Think of his endless baseline rallies, the defensive slides into impossible retrievals, the patience that outlasts even the most brilliant aggression. If Federer offered an aesthetic of pure form, Djokovic offers an aesthetic of duration—of stamina and willpower stretched to their limit. This may be why Djokovic has never inspired the same collective swoon as Federer. The Federer narrative was perfect for the pre-digital, pre-analytic era: talent as a miracle. Djokovic's story belongs to a different age—one that is skeptical of miracles and more interested in process. We didn't watch him to be transported to a higher plane of beauty; we did so to witness what is possible when every piece of one's life is bent to a singular purpose. It is a less romantic vision, to be sure, but no less extraordinary. In the end, Djokovic's genius was that he made the unglamorous sublime. In his game, we saw not just inspiration but a demanding, almost intimidating proposition: greatness is not conferred by the gods. It is made, one grueling point at a time. His time may soon be up. It's my guess that, while Federer will remain the more beloved, Djokovic will be studied by every future pro as the model champion. Little to be learned from summer Tests There's a special kind of futility reserved for Ireland's summer rugby Tests. While France are off filling their depth pool against the All Blacks and England are battling it out with Argentina, we are beating Portugal 106-7. OK, you can only dance with the girls on the dancefloor, but that excuse diminishes when you take into account who decides which disco you go to. Nothing says rugby powerhouse like booking a warm-up match against a country whose entire backline doubles as the national sevens squad and whose loosehead prop probably owns the only scrum machine in Lisbon. Meanwhile, France are indulging in the kind of rugby sadomasochism that polishes a team into World Cup contenders. Even Wales are playing someone who can tackle back. But not us. No, Ireland will emerge from their annihilation of Portugal and Georgia declaring, with straight faces, that 'valuable lessons were learned". The only lesson is that you shouldn't schedule a Test series that sounds like a Eurovision semi-final line-up. By August, when France have battle hardened 'finishers' and England have steel, we'll have nothing but a spreadsheet of meaningless statistics. Dublin pessimism unfounded Spending a Saturday surrounded by old-school Dublin football types was incredibly revealing in just how incredibly pessimistic they have become about their Gaelic footballing future. Just two summers on from their last All-Ireland triumph - and ninth in a dozen years - and all of a sudden you'd swear they've endured six decades of famine and an outbreak of mass emigration. 'Nothing's coming through' and 'no manager could manage them' are the current refrains of resignation. I don't buy it. Maybe, later this month Kerry emerge as contenders for the outstanding team of this decade, but with the peloton so bunched that any one of eight teams are capable, and Dublin, in the right hands are surely in that conversation. Bottom line, the lads doth protest too much, methinks. PSG and Springboks innovate Kudos to PSG and the Springboks for innovative new restart tactics. At FIFA's Club World Cup in the US, the Paris side repeatedly booted the ball straight into touch deep in the corner of their opponents half in order to immediately implement their press. Meanwhile, South Africa and Rassie Erasmus were pulling the complete pee out of Italy (and World Rugby) by deliberately penalising themselves off restarts, fly-half Mannie Libbok chipping the ball directly to his own player instead of sending it the required ten metres. All to manufacture an opportunity to scrum. The purists were no doubt appalled, which can only be a good thing.
