With 43 Grand Slam singles titles, Serena Williams and Roger Federer could not stop praising each other after facing off against each other for the first times in their illustrious career during the Hopman Cup on Tuesday.
In the biggest mixed doubles match in the 31-year history of the tournament, in what is expected to be its final edition, Federer teamed with Belinda Bencic to win the match in straight sets under the Fast4 format and win the Group B tie for Switzerland.
A capacity crowd of 14,064 turned out for the tie, and they saw Federer and Bencic largely capitalise on the mixed doubles inexperience of Williams’s teammate, Francis Tiafoe, to clinch the deciding rubber under the Fast4 format, 4-2, 4-3 (5/3).
“It was a great experience. I’m kind of sad it’s over — I was just warming up!” Williams started. “Honestly, it was so fun. We grew up together, and so having an opportunity after all of these years to play each other — we’ve actually never done this. It’s super cool that we actually get to do this, at this pinnacle of both of our careers.”
When asked what “stood out” for her while facing Federer, she replied, “Well, the guy is great. He’s the greatest of all time, to be honest.”
”Both on and off the court, he has such charisma, he’s such a wonderful player,” Williams continued. “I don’t know if this is the right thing to say, but I think his serve is super underestimated. He has a killer serve. . . . There’s a reason why he’s the greatest, because you can’t be that great and not have such an awesome weapon like that serve.
“Maybe I could get some tips from him later on,” she said as Federer mouthed ‘you don’t need it’ to loud cheers from the packed arena in Perth.
Federer said he was nervous before the match.
“People talk about her serve so much, and I see why — it is such a wonderful serve, because you just can’t read it,” he said.
“I can’t read yours either,” said Williams and Federer added, “that’s because we have the same qualities, but yours a bit better.”
The two ended the interview with an on-court selfie, one for the ages.
Watch the full interaction here: