Federer wants a fit and strong Nadal in 2024

Tennis icon Roger Federer feels the quality of the men's game is trending in the right direction as he also expressed a desire to see Rafael Nadal return to tennis in 2024. Nadal, who turned 37 earlier this month, hasn't played since suffering an injury to his psoas muscle at the Australian Open.

In May, Nadal withdrew from the French Open and also revealed his plans to retire from professional tennis in 2024.

Then during the French Open, Nadal underwent surgery to address his psoas injury. Nadal's recovery is expected to be six months, which means the Spaniard likely won't be playing any tournaments in the remainder of 2023.

"I'm very surprised at how often and how frequently I check scores. Three times a day, maybe. Then, of course, all of a sudden there are days where I check out for like a week, and then I'm with the kids, and I'm traveling, and I'm gone.

I think the level of play, I feel like it's going up more and more again and again, you know. So it's nice to see that. And also the new generation, you know challenging still the likes of Novak [Djokovic] and also Rafa [Nadal], I hope he comes back.

So it's good times in tennis, and I always said that tennis is so great and always keeps on evolving," Federer said during a special ceremony in Halle, via Eurosport. Last September, Federer retired from pro tennis at the Laver Cup.

In the final match of his career, Federer teamed up with Nadal for one doubles match. After the match was over and Federer's career officially came to an end, both the Swiss and Nadal became very emotional and burst into tears.

Now - after witnessing Federer's farewell - Nadal is also set to walk away from pro tennis in the near future.