Rafa Nadal has led tennis\u2019 tributes to Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota after the Liverpool forward and his brother\u00a0Andr\u00e9 Silva were killed in a car accident early on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old was travelling through\u00a0Zamora in Spain when a failed tyre caused them to lose control, killing both at the scene. Jota had been heading for Santander to board a ferry back to Liverpool ahead of the club\u2019s return to pre-season training.<\/p>\n
The death, which came less than two weeks after Jota\u2019s wedding, shocked the sporting world with tributes extending beyond football.<\/p>\n
In tennis, Nadal was among the first to pass on his condolences, describing it as \u201cpainful news.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat sad and painful news,\u201d Nada tweeted. \u201cAll my love, affection, and support to his wife, children, family, and friends during such a difficult time.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest in Peace, Diogo Jota and Andr\u00e9 Silva.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nadal was later joined by his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz who posted on Instagram: \u201cRest in peace Diogo and Andre. My sincere condolences to your loved ones\u201d alongside a black and white image of the player.<\/p>\n
Martina Navratilova also tweeted:\u00a0\u201cSo tragic\u2026 RIP Diogo\u2026 and Andre\u201d<\/p>\n
At Wimbledon, Portuguese player\u00a0Francisco Cabral was permitted to break the strict dress code and wear a black armband in remembrance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know him personally but I have a friend that knows him, he was a great guy,\u201d\u00a0Cabral said.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery, very sad news, not only in the sports world but in Portugal overall, because he\u2019s such an idol, such an icon, such a good person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the news when I was driving to Wimbledon. I just wish all the best for his family. I know they have good people around them so I hope they can get through it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what he\u2019s been through, what he conquered through his career and through his life. So he\u2019s just very inspiring for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Football manager J\u00fcrgen Klopp, who signed Jota to Liverpool in 2020 said \u201cDiogo was not only a fantastic player, but also a great friend, a loving and caring husband and father! We will miss you so much!\u201d<\/p>\n
Cristiano Ronaldo, Jota\u2019s teammate with Portugal, said: \u201cDoesn\u2019t make any sense. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you were married.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019ll always be with them. Rest in Peace, Diogo and Andr\u00e9. We\u2019ll all miss you.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Liverpool statement read: \u201cLiverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club have been informed the 28-year-old has passed away following a road traffic accident in Spain along with his brother, Andre.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiverpool FC will be making no further comment at this time and request the privacy of Diogo and Andre\u2019s family, friends, teammates and club staff is respected as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The post Rafa Nadal leads tributes to footballer Diogo Jota after fatal car crash<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rafa Nadal has led tennis\u2019 tributes to Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota after the Liverpool forward and his brother\u00a0Andr\u00e9 Silva were killed in a car accident early on Thursday morning. The 28-year-old was travelling through\u00a0Zamora in Spain when a failed tyre caused them to lose control, killing both at the scene. Jota had been heading for […]<\/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-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","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=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}