"Rafael Nadal took his shoes off, it's disgusting" - Andy Roddick & Roger Federer reminisce about Spaniard's gruesome foot injury

On Saturday (September 20), Roger Federer sat down for a candid chat with Andy Roddick in the Fan Zone just outside the 2025 Laver Cup venue in San Francisco, USA. During their conversation, Rafael Nadal's career-hampering foot injury and the Swiss maestro's own knee niggles were brought up.

This weekend, Federer visited the Chase Center in San Francisco to support five-time champions Team Europe in their 2024 Laver Cup defense against Team World. To mark the occasion, former World No. 1-turned-podcaster Andy Roddick was invited to interview the 20-time Major winner, where they discussed a wide array of topics.

At one point, Roddick mentioned that during Rafael Nadal's stint on his "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast earlier in March, he happened to get a sneak peek of the Spaniard's left foot, which was under a lot of duress for most of the latter's career due to a congenital foot condition called Mueller-Weiss syndrome. The 22-time Major winner was ultimately forced to retire after last year's Davis Cup Finals due to multiple run-ins with the above issue.

According to the American, Nadal's left foot, even after retirement, is in such a bad condition that it seems as though "there's an animal living inside it".

"Just so everyone knows how hard the players are playing for you in there and how rough this is physically. He took his shoes off, it looks like there's an animal living inside of his foot. It's disgusting," Andy Roddick said on the latest episode of his podcast at Laver Cup 2025. "I would say you should see it, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It's absolutely disgusting."

Andy Roddick's account prompted the Swiss to talk about his own right knee injury that forced him to hang up his racket at the 2022 Laver Cup.

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Roger Federer: I was always famous for never being injured

Roger Federer accumulated an uber-impressive 1251-275 win/loss record during his career spanning more than two decades. For the majority of these matches, he never appeared to be seriously injured, or so the lore went back then. During his interview on Saturday, the 20-time Major winner talked about how he endured injuries unbeknownst to most tennis fans.

"I was always famous for, 'Ah, he's never injured.' Once I got on court, I dealt with [it] in the finish even though many matches I didn't feel perfect. And I dealt with some back issues and hand stuff, foot things, but never to the extent like the knee at the end," Federer told Roddick. "It's only really once you've had surgery or you're out for extended period of time, you really start being unbelievably appreciative of how good you used to feel and how unworried you were running for a ball across the court."

Federer, meanwhile, will likely be in attendance on the final day of the 2025 Laver Cup as Team World attempts to win their third title at the competition.