Rafael Nadal will be honoured with a retirement tribute at this year’s French Open, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has confirmed.
The Spanish legend triumphed at Roland Garros on a staggering 14 occasions — the all-time record for the most titles won at a single tennis tournament.
Nadal secured the first of his 22 Grand Slam titles at the 2005 edition of Roland Garros on his debut at the Paris major.
The ‘King of Clay’ amassed a mind-blowing 112-4 (96.6%) record across his 19 French Open campaigns.
The 38-year-old made his final appearance at the tournament last year, falling to Alexander Zverev in the opening round.
In November 2024, Nadal brought down the curtain on his incredible career at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga after playing his last-ever match in Spain’s quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.
In a press conference ahead of the 2025 French Open, Mauresmo revealed a ceremony will be held to celebrate Nadal on the opening day of the event — Sunday, May 25.
“RAFAEL NADAL TO BE HONOURED,” said the official Roland Garros account in a post on X.
“A ceremony will be held on Sunday, May 25 on Court Philippe-Chatrier, after the three matches of the day session.”
Mauresmo did not share any further details about the Nadal tribute, but French Tennis President Gilles Moretton has already revealed it will be “very big.”
“There will, necessarily, be something for Rafael Nadal, a very big tribute,” Moretton told Europe 1 radio in February.
“A real tribute, very important. We are attached to it. The [Davis Cup] tribute was not really the one that we had to pay him [respect]. We were ready last year and he wasn’t ready, he was still a player.
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“We went to see him at home, at the beginning of December, with Amelie Mauresmo to talk to him about this tribute that we will organise for him, and talked to him about the future.”
Mauresmo, a former world No 1 and two-time major champion, has confirmed that French tennis icons Mary Pierce and Richard Gasquet will also be celebrated at this year’s tournament.
“Pierce: Celebration of the 25th anniversary of her Roland-Garros titles, as well as her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame,” the tournament wrote.
“Gasquet: He will play the final tournament of his career at Roland-Garros and will receive a tribute following his last match.”
Pierce was the last French player to win a Roland Garros singles title, having triumphed in 2000. She remains the only French women’s singles champion in the Open Era.
Richard Gasquet, a former world No 7, will retire after playing this year’s French Open.
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