It’s been almost two months, but the farewell ceremony for Rafael Nadal that took place on November 19 at the Martin Carpena pavilion in Malaga at the end of the Davis Cup quarter-final between Spain and the Netherlands is still going strong. Nadal was unable to hang up his racket with a victory after losing in the first singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp
The organisers, after consulting with the Balearic legend, decided to improvise a tribute in the early hours of Tuesday morning with the stands half empty, with unedited videos, such as those of Messi and Pau Gasol, and without personalities who had marked the career of the best Spanish sportsman in history.
Criticism rained down, some from Rafa’s own team, such as his coach Carlos Moya, who described the ceremony as “scruffy and shabby”.
From Australia, Novak Djokovic has now spoken out, who had planned to be present on Friday 22 November in Malaga, the day initially set to bid farewell to Rafa from tennis
Both Murray and I were due to go, I’m sorry I wasn’t there
Novak Djokovic
“I don’t know the details in depth, but I saw the video and the farewell ceremony they gave Rafa was not the right one. Both Murray and I had planned to go on Friday, after the semi-finals. I don’t know if Nadal didn’t want too much noise so that it wouldn’t have an impact on the other teams, on the matches… I don’t know if Rafa was clear if he was going to play and maybe afterwards it was too late to organise something bigger. I feel bad for not being there.”
Novak is pleased to have shared the court with his greatest rival twice in the year of his retirement: “It was nice to share the court in Riyadh and we also played in the Paris Games.” The Belgrade tennis player will seek a place in the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday against Portugal’s Jaime Faria