STUTTGART, June 11, 2016
It was the year 2006 when Roger Federer defeated James Blake in the final of the Tennis Master Cup in Shanghai 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. The US-American finished that season at a career-high world number four.
10 years later, the 36-year-old New York native, who retired from professional tennis after the US-Open in 2013, posted the following message on twitter:
Yes @rogerfederer I took one of your towels the year you beat me in the finals of masters cup and still use it pic.twitter.com/QHw5S70KKp
— James Blake (@JRBlake) 9. Juni 2016
After his quarterfinal milestone win over Florian Mayer at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart on Friday, Federer was asked about Blake’s towel tweet in his post-match press conference. He wasn’t aware of the tweet but told about his own tennis souvenirs.
Roger Federer
“It’s nice to take some memories from important matches. I have got the net of the Wimbledon 2009 final. It’s currently standing at home in a corner and I still hope that I can install it to a wall. Obviously the wall needs to be long and big enough. That’s not easy to find,” the Swiss smiled and added:
“It’s nice to see that the final was important to him and that it was also a special tournament for him. We are good friends. I do not consider it as stealing, as the towels lie around all week. He apparently saw one of mines at the final stages of the tournament and just took it. That’s just funny!”
Here are the highlights from the final in Shanghai 2006:
