‘It was really embarrassing situation’: Former tennis player recalls when he was in ‘underwear’ in front of Federer

Former tennis player David Nalbandian was caught in an “embarrassing” situation as losing a PlayStation tournament led to him walking down the hotel lobby in his underwear. But there was more to the story. He bumped into Roger Federer and his wife Mirka when he headed toward the elevator. Nalbandian, who was the guest of a TV show in Argentina, shared a hilarious anecdote involving the Swiss phenomenon. During the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, the Argentine challenged Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer on the PlayStation.

“We had organized a small tournament and the loser would have had to go down to the hotel lobby in his underwear and take the elevator. Unfortunately, I was the loser and was not allowed to negotiate. So I headed for the elevator and the funniest thing is that when the doors opened I found myself face to face with Roger Federer and Mirka. It was a really embarrassing situation!” recalled Nalbandian.

Federer, the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, has been out of action since a quarter-final loss at last year’s Wimbledon before undergoing another bout of knee surgery. But the tennis ace hopes to play the tournament “one more time”.

“I hope I can come back one more time. I’ve missed it here,” said Federer when he attended a special ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of Centre Court.

The 40-year-old has his eyes on the Laver Cup in London in September and his home tournament — the Swiss Indoors Basel. “I knew walking out here last year, it was going to be a tough year ahead. I maybe didn’t think it was going to take this long to come back – the knee has been rough on me.”

Nick Kyrgios, who lost the Wimbledon 2022 final to Novak Djokovic, lavished high praise on Federer and bracketed him as the toughest opponent he has faced. Kyrgios explained how Federer has the ability to humiliate his opponents.

“I wouldn’t say that. Like I said before, I had a chance to win the match. He (Djokovic) doesn’t make you feel as bad as Federer does at times,” Nick Kyrgios said. “I think Federer, out of the other three guys, Federer can make you feel really bad, like he makes you want to leave the court. He can make things seem really quick and that the court’s really small.”

“Nadal and Djokovic, they allow you to play a little bit from the back and if you’re not playing great, then you struggle,” said the Aussie. “But Federer can really take it to you and get you off the court real quick,” added the Australian tennis player.