Federer sent Nadal a classy message (Picture: Getty)

Roger Federer revealed he sent Rafael Nadal a message of good will after his latest injury setback at the Australian Open.

The world No. 2 watched on as the top seed crashed out of the tournament, retiring in the fifth set against Marin Cilic.

Nadal underwent a scan on Wednesday, which brought about positive news that he should be back in action in three weeks’ time, but the Spaniard was left fearing the worst as he was unable to conclude his quarter-final match.

Prior to the scan, Federer sent the 16-time Grand Slam champion his best wishes and checked in with how he was doing in a classy move from the 36-year-old.




‘I wish him well. It’s hard to watch, you know,’ he said after beating Tomas Berdych to set up a semi-final against Hyeon Chung. ‘Someone going out in five sets and not being able to finish.

‘At least if somebody finishes and he loses, all credit to the other guy. Still, I think Marin deserves an amazing amount of credit because he hung around and he fought really, really hard and I don’t think he’d ever beaten Rafa before or he’d beaten him once so this was a massive win.

Nadal was forced to withdraw (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Federer reached the semi-finals (Picture: Getty)

‘At this point, I wrote Rafa late last night before I went to bed, it was the last thing I did.

‘I was like “right, I’ve got to write to Rafa and see how he’s doing and that I hoped he was going to be ok with the scan today”.

‘I’m happy that the news is not terrible but it was not nice to see a fellow rival and friend go like this go out so I wish him well.’