"I don't want to look like I'm gonna be Roger Federer's boyfriend" - When Rafael Nadal joked about his closeness with Swiss

Rafael Nadal once joked about his closeness with his arch-rival Roger Federer, saying that he felt like he was almost on the verge of looking like he was the Swiss' boyfriend. The incident took place during the US Open in 2017.

Nadal and Federer both reached the quarterfinals in New York, setting up a potential clash in the semifinals. While the Spaniard advanced to the last four by defeating Andrey Rublev, Federer fell short, losing to Juan Martin del Potro.

After defeating Rublev, Nadal was asked in a press conference about the possibility of facing Federer for the first time at the US Open and what he admired most about him. He responded with a laugh:

"I don't want to look like I gonna be his boyfriend, no? We don't want to talk these kind of things before important match. We have a lot of respect for each other, no? We played a lot of times. I think we did important things for tennis. We appreciate that. We always had a good relationship. We played for our foundations."

"I think he always have been a great ambassador for tennis and for our sport, with good image, of course, and representing, I think, good values," the 22-time Grand Slam champion added.