Roland Garros will officially wave goodbye to its favourite son, Rafael Nadal, during a ceremony at this year\u2019s tournament, but will any high-profile tennis figures attend the tribute?<\/p>\n
King of Clay Nadal<\/a> \u2013 who won a record 14 majors in Paris \u2013 made the last of his 19 main draw appearances at the French Open<\/a> last year and he was handed a plum opening match against Alexander Zverev as he used his protected ranking to enter the tournament.<\/p>\n The Spaniard was beaten in straight sets by the fourth seed and later in the year he announced his retirement from tennis with his last professional event the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.<\/p>\n A big ceremony was planned for later in the tournament and the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray had indicated they would attend<\/p>\n But Spain were stunned in the quarter-finals by the Netherlands with Nadal losing his last-ever singles match in straight sets against Botic van de Zandschulp.<\/p>\n After Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers lost their doubles encounter against Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof, organisers were forced to do an on-court ceremony immediately after the match, which was on a Tuesday.<\/p>\n Federer, Djokovic and Murray were only expected to fly in over the weekend as many believed Spain would reach the final, but it meant they were not present for the ceremony.<\/p>\n Nadal\u2019s family, closest friends, his coaching team and the rest of Spain\u2019s Davis Cup squad were in attendance in Malaga last November.<\/p>\n But while the tennis great didn\u2019t comment about the ceremony, others were unimpressed as his former coach and uncle Toni Nadal stated: \u201cI\u2019m not trying to criticise anyone. I would have preferred something different, more in line with his career.\u201d<\/p>\n His long-term coach Carlos Moya said: \u201cThe feeling we are all left with is a bit scruffy and shabby. It\u2019s true that it\u2019s a Tuesday night, but this is sport and we knew months in advance that if Spain lost, Rafa would retire. Nadal is far above all this.\u201d<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal reveals Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray wish<\/a><\/p>\n Rafael Nadal: Davis Cup organisers defend retirement ceremony amid criticism<\/a><\/p>\n Spain\u2019s Davis Cup captain David Ferrer said: \u201cThe farewell to someone as important as Rafa was watered down; very important people in his career were missing, as well as people who have been so important at the level of his rivals and his team. I missed those people.\u201d<\/p>\n Nadal didn\u2019t want a farewell at Roland Garros in 2024 as he hadn\u2019t quite confirmed his retirement at that stage, but he will be honoured at the 2025 tournament.<\/p>\n Organisers have revealed the ceremony is set for the opening day, Sunday, May 25, with events set to get underway after the day\u2019s play on Court Philippe-Chatrier.<\/p>\n Nadal himself doesn\u2019t want a big bash and tournament director Amelie Mauresmo told TNT Sports: \u201cWe want to honour Rafa and make sure that we celebrate him in the right way.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning 14 times here is such a special memory for him, such a special relationship between the tournament and Rafa.<\/p>\n \u201cHe also wants something simple, authentic, and true, just like he is. So we try to fit that order, let\u2019s say.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, there has been no official confirmation from the three former world No 1s that they will be on Court Philippe-Chatrier to attend the ceremony.<\/p>\n Djokovic, of course, will be in Paris as he will take part in the French Open, but it remains to be seen if Federer and Murray \u2013 who recently parted ways with Djokovic after a six-month stint as his coach \u2013 will fly to the French capital.<\/p>\n Current stars Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, who have been big fans of Nadal since their childhoods, will also be competing at Roland Garros and could be in attendance.<\/p>\n The post Rafael Nadal\u2019s French Open tribute: Will Federer, Djokovic, Murray attend after Malaga let-down<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Roland Garros will officially wave goodbye to its favourite son, Rafael Nadal, during a ceremony at this year\u2019s tournament, but will any high-profile tennis figures attend the tribute? King of Clay Nadal \u2013 who won a record 14 majors in Paris \u2013 made the last of his 19 main draw appearances at the French Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What Happened In Malaga?<\/h4>\n
Criticism For \u201cShabby Farewell\u201d<\/h4>\n
Rafael Nadal News<\/h3>\n
Second Farewell Date<\/h4>\n
Federer, Djokovic & Murray To Attend?<\/h4>\n