"I'd be like, 'Why is Rafael Nadal saying all that?'" - Roger Federer revisits surprise at Spaniard being 'super honest' about his injuries

Roger Federer recently cast his mind back to being surprised by former rival Rafael Nadal openly discussing his injuries whereas the Swiss himself was almost always reluctant to do so. According to the former No. 1 and 20-time Major champion, for much of his career, he kept his injuries secret so as not to give any advantage to his opponents.

The 44-year-old featured as a special guest on a recently-released episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, which was filmed and recorded amid the 2025 Laver Cup in San Francisco.

Here, Roger Federer candidly recalled his habit of never retiring mid-match during his playing days, irrespective of the injuries he carried. However, the 103-time career singles titlist also reflected on how things changed in the twilight years of his career, during which his knee issues became much too bothersome for him.

"Once I got on court, I dealt with it and finished it, even though many matches I didn't feel perfect, and I dealt with some back issues, hand stuff, foot things, but never to the extent of the knee at the end," he said. (from 1:18:05)

"And it's really once you've maybe had surgery or out for an extended period of time you really stop being unbelievably appreciative of how good you used to feel and how unworried you were running for a ball across the court and stopping on a dime, and all of a sudden you're thinking everything through every impossible moment of the match. So everything changes in a massive way," he added.

Federer went on to shed light on his mentality of never letting anyone know much about his injuries. According to the legendary Swiss, revealing too much may have helped his opponents.

"I'd always been the player or person that I didn't want my opponent or the world or the press needing to know about every step of the way of my injuries, but also to protect myself to a certain level that my opponent doesn't know 'bad knee, really bad knee, so I'm going to make him run around'," the former No. 1 continued.

However, he laid bare the surprise he used to feel seeing Rafael Nadal being honest with his injuries. He wondered why the Spaniard would do such a thing considering the potential consequences in terms of his results, saying:

"On the other side, Rafa was super honest about his issues and I'd be like, 'Why is he saying all of that?' And me, I almost can't get out of my chair with my bad back when everybody thinks I'm perfect."

Roger Federer retired at Laver Cup 2022 after losing doubles outing with Rafael Nadal; Spaniard bid farewell to tennis last year

Roger Federer (left) and Rafael Nadal (right) (Source: Getty)

At the 2022 Laver Cup, Roger Federer played his last official match, which was a doubles outing with none other than Rafael Nadal. The Swiss and the Spaniard, representing Team Europe, locked horns with Team World's all-American duo of Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe. The Americans won the match, and later, Federer cried his heart out as the reality of retirement finally hit him. Nadal too, was moved to tears.

The Spaniard himself decided to call it a day following his participation for Spain at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals. The former No. 1 and 22-time Slam winner tried his best to play as much as possible during the 2024 tennis season. However, his physical struggles got in the way, preventing him from participating at events consistently.

Earlier this year at the French Open, Nadal received a special farewell, and was joined on the court by former rivals Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.