Roger Federer brought down the curtain on his memorable career at the Laver Cup with a doubles loss to Jack Sock and Francis Tiafoe with his greatest tennis rival Rafael Nadal by his side.
The pair who collectively boast a collection of 42 grand slams between them were beaten 6-4 6-7 9-11 by the American duo to leave the competition tied at 2-2 after the first day.
Earlier Alex de Minaur of team World defeated Andy Murray of team Europe before the European squad struck back through Casper Rudd, who beat Jack Sock 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 and Stefanos Tsitsipas who got the better of Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 6-1.
And then came the main event with Nadal and Federer, who announced his retirement from tennis last week, taking the court in front of a sold-out and raucous O2 Arena crowd of 17,500.
The decibel levels went up when Federer thumped away a volley in the opening game – his first competitive shot since a defeat against Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon last year. His focus underlined the fact that this was not an exhibition match and his game reflected it too.
Nadal and Federer took the first set after breaking Tiafoe but their challenge faded in the second as the Americans stormed back to level the contest at one set apiece.
The Swiss had a chance to seal the win for his team in the third set tiebreak but Sock took some sheen off the celebrations by thumping a forehand winner to help the team World level things at 2-2.
The contest was of little value to anyone as after the match the Laver Cup stage turned into an occasion to celebrate the career of Roger Federer. The Swiss maestro was hoisted by both teams as he took in the applause on his final outing as a player on a tennis court.
The 41-year-old finally broke down at the end while thanking his wife Mirka, children Leo, Lenny, Myla and Charlene, and his parents Lynette and Robert to bring his glittering career to an end.
