17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has spoken with the Finnish media ahead of his exhibition night at the Hartwall arena in Helsinki.
Federer will play a doubles and singles exhibition match in what will be a farewell night for former world No.13 Jarkko Nieminen. The 34-year-old announced his retirement earlier this year and played his final tournament at the Stockholm Open last month where he lost in the first round to Nicolas Almagro. During Nieminen’s career, the Finnish player has won 2 ATP titles (Auckland and Sydney) and ten Challenger titles. He has also reached the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam events with the most recent being at the 2008 Australian Open.
The farewell event will be the first time that Federer has played in Finland. Speaking to iltalehti.fi, the world No.3 spoke about Nieminen as he prepares for the event.
“Jarkko is a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for almost 20 years. It is a pity that he is retiring, but it is pretty cool to come and play in Finland for the first time”. Federer said.
“Let’s have fun and celebrate Jarkko’s career”. He added.
During the event, the doubles match will include former Finnish ice hockey legends Teemu Selanne and Peter Forsberg. Selanne played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and produced 684 goals, placing him 11th on the all-time NHL goal scoring list. Forsberg has participated in four Olympic games and during his career in the NHL he produced an average of 1.25 points per game. This places him eighth on the NHL all-time points-per-game list.
In the doubles competition Nieminen will play with Selanna and Federer will team up with Forsberg. Speaking about the two former ice hockey players joining the him, Federer expressed his admiration for them.
“I have no clue how well they know how to play”. Federer grinned.
“It is a brave thing for them to play tennis. In fact, I suck at skating and playing hockey, and I would never do that in front of 12 000 spectators”.
Despite the night being a celebration of his close friend’s career, Federer openly admitted that some of the focus will be on him.
“Personally, I promise to play well, because I know that part of the audience comes to see my my play”. He said.
The event will get underway at 16:25 (GMT+2) with the doubles followed by the singles match at 20:00 (GMT+2). The event will be broadcasted live by MTV.fi.
