Andy Murray sent long-time rival and friend Roger Federer a brutal text as he returned to the tennis legend's native Switzerland.
Murray is playing in the Swiss Indoors for the first time since 2005 and got off to a winning start on Tuesday as he fought back to see off Romanian qualifier Roman Safiullin. The competition in Basel has become synonymous with Federer, who was once a ball boy before going on to win the title 10 times as a pro.
He remains the reigning champion too as the tournament has not been held since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year is the first time the Swiss Indoors has been held since Federer retired at the Laver Cup last month.
And upon his arrival, Murray couldn't resist the opportunity for a cheeky dig at the man he faced off against so many times in his career.
"I messaged Roger, when I landed in Basel and I said: ‘I just touched down in the city of one of the world's greatest ever athletes: Granit Xhaka,’” Murray told Aargauer Zeitung.
“I know that Granit Xhaka is from here, I’m a huge Arsenal fan. Xhaka is playing really, really well this season. He scored another wonderful goal on Sunday."
The competition brings back great memories for Murray having gone official with wife Kim on his last visit back in 2005.
He added: "We met at the US Open and then we went on a couple of date since then and I asked the question, when we were in Basel, ‘are we a couple now, like officially?' She didn’t come here. This was done over MSN Messenger, which was how the youngsters communicated in those days!"
On the court, the Scot bounced back from losing the first set against Safiullin to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
