ATP Tour

Federer plays with his ‘brother from another mother’ Safin in Shanghai exhibition

Roger Federer and Marat Safin’s days of duelling on the ATP Tour may be long gone, but that doesn’t mean that the old rivals no longer enjoy each other’s company on the tennis court.

The two former No. 1s in the PIF ATP Rankings were reunited with racquets in hands on Friday night at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where they played an exhibition match inside Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena. Joining Federer and Safin on court were Safin’s sister and former WTA World No. 1 Dinara Safina, and former WTA No. 2, Chinese superstar Li Na.

_{^{Li Na, Dinara Safina, Roger Federer and Marat Safin on court in Shanghai on Friday night. Photo: Shi Tang/Getty Images}}

"It was really fun to be on the same side of the net as my brother from another mother," Federer said of playing with Safin. "I really enjoyed it and I hope everyone did too."

It is 25 years since the first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between Federer and Safin, which took place at the 2001 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. The pair went on to contest 12 tour-level meetings overall, including the 2004 Australian Open final, with Federer winning 10 of them.

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Safin competed at the Nitto ATP Finals (then known as the Tennis Masters Cup) in Shanghai in 2002, while he also played at the inaugural Rolex Shanghai Masters in 2009 shortly before he retired.

Federer also played the 2002 Nitto ATP Finals in the Chinese city, and he later lifted the trophy at the season-ending event in 2006 and 2007, when it was also held in Shanghai. Hugely popular in China, the Swiss star later triumphed at the 2014 and 2017 Rolex Shanghai Masters.