Roger Federer has made a playful dig at Rafael Nadal after participating in a question-and-answer session on social media. Federer and Nadal have been large rivals, and likewise pals, on the tennis court docket earlier than the Swiss ace referred to as time on his illustrious profession final September.

Federer took to Twitter on Tuesday night time to provide followers a possibility to ask him questions. And after one follower quizzed the 41-year-old about whether or not he misses enjoying in opposition to Nadal, the previous star replied, “yes and no” alongside an emoji of a winking face.

Federer and Nadal dominated the ATP Tour for years and habitually got here up in opposition to each other within the latter levels of main tournaments. The duo performed one another in 9 Grand Slam finals between 2006 and 2017, with Federer solely popping out on prime in three of these encounters. And his cheeky touch upon Twitter signifies that regardless of his friendship with Nadal, he would've probably somewhat come up in opposition to another foes so he might add to his title whole.

Federer went on to exhibit his self-deprecating humour after later being requested by one other fan to call his favorite match in opposition to Nadal. “RG 2008. Those four games were awesome,” responded Federer in reference to the 2008 French Open ultimate, the place he was thrashed 6-1 6-3 6-0 by his long-time nemesis.

Federer completed his profession with 20 Grand Slam wins, whereas Nadal is presently degree with Novak Djokovic on the prime of the all-time title standings with 22 main trophies. But the Spaniard hasn’t performed since exiting January’s Australian Open by the hands of Mackenzie McDonald within the second spherical.

The 36-year-old is ready to overlook this 12 months’s French Open because of harm and likewise lately admitted that subsequent 12 months might be his ultimate one on the tour. He mentioned: "My goal and ambition is to try to stop and give myself an opportunity to enjoy the next year.

"That is my thought however I can not say 100 per cent will probably be like this. My thought is to attempt to take pleasure in and say goodbye to all of the tournaments which have been essential for me."

“I was working as much as possible every single day for the last four months,” Nadal explained during a press conference earlier this month. “It has been very difficult months because we were not able to find the solution to the problem that I had in Australia.

“Today I'm still in a position that I am not able to feel myself ready to compete at the standards that I need to be [at] to play a Roland Garros. I am not the guy that is going to be at Roland Garros and just try to be there and put myself in a position that I don't like to be [in].

“My ambition is to try to enjoy next year, which will probably be my last year in professional competition. My motivation is to try to say goodbye to all the important tournaments. 2024 will probably be my last year. I'm not going to set a return date before that. It could be reaching the Davis Cup at the end of 2023.”