Roger Federer sends invite to Rafael Nadal with Spaniard 'open' to exciting opportunity

Roger Federer has offered his old rival, Rafael Nadal, the chance to get back on court together, on their own circuit. The Swiss star has been back in the public eye this week as the Laver Cup - a Ryder Cup-style team tournament he co-created - heads to San Francisco.

Federer retired from professional tennis at the 2022 Laver Cup, playing his final match in the doubles with Nadal by his side. And the 20-time Major winner has now jokingly proposed setting up another series of events, the 'Fedal' tour, to play with his biggest competitor.

Nadal joined his old rival in retirement at the end of last year, saying farewell at the Davis Cup Finals. The Spaniard reunited with his old rivals earlier this year at the French Open for a special tribute ceremony in honour of Nadal's career and achievements.

Federer and Nadal have also been out on the golf course together, and the 44-year-old is now keen to get Nadal back on the tennis court.

Asked whether he'd start a senior tour with Nadal, the Laver Cup co-creator told CNBC: "Yeah, why not? I love Rafa.

"I played four hours of tennis the other day here in San Francisco, and then LA also another hour and a half before that. So I've been playing a lot so I'm trying to keep in good shape."

The eight-time Wimbledon champion also believes Nadal is up for some tennis - even though he has yet to touch a racket since retiring last year.

"And I know that Rafa is also totally open to maybe play some tennis. It sounds terrible, seniors tennis, to us, but maybe we can create a tour, like a Fedal tour or something like that," Federer added.

"I mean, it would be cool. I think that's also one of the reasons I actually did start the Laver Cup, was to shine a light on the past greats of the game and maybe a seniors tour, we've had it a little bit in tennis.

"I think it was called the Champions' Tour at the time, it did exist. But I think there is a lot of appetite for seeing past champions in tennis as well so I can maybe look into that as well."

For now, the Laver Cup is all systems go. The eighth edition of the team event will take place this weekend in San Francisco.

Both Team Europe and Team World have new captains this year for the very first time - Yannick Noah and Tim Henman will head up Europe, while Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter will lead the World guys.

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