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With one week to go until the first anniversary of Cape Town Slam, I’ve decided to make a thread of some of the best moments:
The first announcement of the upcoming event came during Roger’s ‘73 questions’ interview with Vogue before the start of Wimbledon 2019...
Later during his third round press conference at the championships, Roger confirmed it took him two years to get Rafa to ‘give him a date’, emphasising how you always make time “when something’s a priority...”
In the run-up to the match, Roger and Rafa recreated the hilarious video they produced before the first ‘Match for Africa’ event in 2010...
As an homage to his clay-loving opponent, Roger Providerer arranged for the match to be played on an orange hard court surface, hoping it would make Rafa feel at home...
On the day of the match, Roger and Rafa played mini tennis on the Cape Town Grand Parade in front of City Hall and had some very wedding party line-up/honeymoon-style photos taken...
Later, the ‘bitter rivals’ met with a group of children from Hout Bay - they played a version of ‘Simon Says’ and also read a story aloud, with Roger ending up in a fit of giggles over Rafa’s mispronunciation of ‘farting’...
In an interview before the match, Roger revealed that Rafa had just told him how he’d cried when the Swiss won his only French Open title in 2009 (after losing three previous finals and a semifinal to Rafa)...
N.B. Rafa had already admitted this in an interview in 2014 so Roger was a bit late to the party... https://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/06/rafael-nadal-cried-cry-roger-federer-french-open-2009
South African rugby star Siya Kolisi was invited to do the pre-match coin toss and presented Roger with his own, very tight-fitting Springboks jersey (which Rafa clearly liked very much)...
Rafa felt relaxed enough playing Roger that his familiar pre-serve routine was often MIA for Match in Africa (excuse the pun!) and he also let loose by singing along to Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ during a change of ends...
When quizzed by Trevor Noah on which of them was better at trick shots, Roger was very quick to praise his copain resulting in a positively glowing Rafa...
After winning a set a-piece, Roger took the deciding set 6-3 when Rafa’s return ball hit the net and also got himself a Rafa-shaped trophy when his opponent vaulted the net for a hug...
Following the match both Roger and Rafa enjoyed an after-party at Roger’s villa - they celebrated late into the night and Roger was still wearing the same outfit for an interview he gave the following day (so it’s likely he and Rafa never made it to bed...)
And finally after it was all over, NBC Sports printed an article with following headline...
Enough said...
Enough said...
