Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never teamed up for a doubles match despite being on the opposite ends of the court numerous times in their career.
However, the two legendary tennis players will be partnering for the first time in their careers during the Day 2 action of the inaugural Laver Cup at the O2 Arena in Prague on Saturday, September 23.
#Borg: "Roger is fresh, he wanted to play early. And Rafa played last night doubles so he is ready to play." #LaverCup #TeamEurope pic.twitter.com/3XvMt1OsO2
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 23, 2017
'Fedal'
Federer and Nadal, who are part of a star-studded Team Europe, will take on Jack Sock and Sam Querrey of Team World in the evening session on Saturday.
Meanwhile, both of them are going to be involved in singles action as well with the former facing Querrey and the latter facing Sock.
All you need to know about Laver Cup 2017
Nadal, Federer excited
Notably, both Federer and Nadal were excited about the prospect of playing a doubles match as partners ahead of the Ryder Cup-styled tennis tournament.
"I've played a lot against Rafa on so many occasions, in big matches. I think in nine Grand Slam finals. Finally, to have him on my side, it's a joy. We talked about playing doubles a long, long time ago. It never happened. Of course, I would love to share the side of the net this time around," Federer said, as quoted by "ESPN", on Thursday, September 21.
Nadal revealed the two had been talking about playing together for a long while.
"Of course, I would love [to play with Federer]," Nadal said.
"It will be amazing if that happens. We've talked about that years ago, to play in some tournament together. It didn't happen yet. We're looking forward to playing here, hopefully," the Spaniard said.
Day 2 schedule
Day session (Starts at 4:30 pm IST)
- Federer vs Querrey
- Nadal vs Sock
Night session (Starts at 10:30pm IST)
- Berdych vs Kyrgios
- Nadal/Federer vs Querrey/Sack
How to watch it live
India: TV: D Sport. Live streaming: D Sport on Jio TV, Vodafone Mobile TV
US: TV: Tennis Channel: Live streaming: Tennis Channel
UK: Sky Sports and Euro Sport. Live streaming: Eurosport Player
Australia, Argentina: TV: ESPN International
Africa: Supersport
Team Europe in command
Meanwhile, Team Europe took a 3-1 lead after some solid performances on the opening day.
Marin Cilic opened Team Europe's account with a 7-6, 7-6 win over France's Tiafoe in the first singles match on Friday.
Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev made it 3-0 after wins over John Isner and Denis Shapovalov, respectively.
Team World finally opened their tally when their doubles pairing of Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock defeated Europe's pairing of Tomas Berdych and Nadal.
