During his emotional retirement ceremony at the French Open, Rafael Nadal paid a touching tribute to rival Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray.
Djokovic, Federer, and Murray received a rapturous reception as they stepped onto Court Philippe Chatrier to pay tribute to Nadal, seven months on from the final match of his career.
‘King of Clay’ Nadal was visibly emotional throughout his ceremony at Roland Garros, where he won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
It was the event that came to define the Spaniard’s career, with the 38-year-old winning an incredible 112 matches at the tournament, losing just four times.
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Nadal and his ‘Big Four’ rivals helped redefine dominance in the men’s game, with 69 Grand Slam titles between them, and the Spaniard celebrated his greatest rivals with a poignant message on court.
“After all these years fighting for everything it’s unbelievable how the time changes perspective of everything. You don’t know yet Novak, probably you know already Andy. With Roger we have talked about it a couple times.
“All of the nerves, pressure, strange feelings you feel when we see each other when we are rivals, it’s completely different when you finish your career. At the end, now, it’s all about being happy about everything that we achieved.
“At the end, all of us achieved our dreams. We became tennis players, played in the most important stages of our careers. I think we built amazing rivalries, but at the same time in a good way.
“We showed the world that we can fight as hard as possible, but being good colleagues and respect each other very well. And for me, it means a lot that you are all here.
“You gave me some hard times on court honestly, but I really enjoyed pushing myself to the limit every single day to compete with all of you.
“At the end tennis is just a game. Sometimes we feel a bit more. But we understand at the end of the day, it’s really only a game. What it means for me that all of you are here is everything.
“It’s a great message to the world that we can be good friends even if we had the best rivalries. Thank you very very much for everything during all these years.
“I really hope and I’m sure we will continue doing positive things for our sport. Our legacy is there, but we need to keep building things that helps tennis keep growing. I’m sure we will make beautiful things together.
“Thank you very much for everything. And all the best.”
