Rafael Nadal shared a brutal message he got from Andy Murray (Image: Getty)
After a tearful ceremony on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Rafael Nadal was back on top form when he addressed the media at the French Open. The 14-time champion in Paris was reunited with three of his biggest rivals – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – during the presentation.
But it wasn’t the first time he had heard from Murray since retiring from professional tennis in November. The Spaniard got his phone out in the middle of his press conference to share a hilarious text message he received from Murray, one of their first exchanges after they both retired last year.
Along with Federer and Djokovic, Murray took to the centre court at Roland Garros to pay tribute to Nadal and his record 14 titles here on Sunday afternoon. Nadal was emotional as he addressed his Big Four rivals, telling them they had “achieved their dreams” together.
Their conversations continued when they walked off the court, with cameras capturing a heartwarming moment Nadal’s son shared with his dad’s three rivals, giving them all high-fives.
The ‘King of Clay’ later said they had chatted about “life and families” when they met up again in the tunnels of Court Philippe-Chatrier, before sharing a hilarious tale about a message he got from Murray after they both hung up their rackets.
“My good friend Andy, we were not in touch for a while,” the 22-time Major winner started. “The day that Arsenal beat Real Madrid, when the match just finished, after one second, he text me a message, telling me… I’m gonna read because it’s quite good.”
Nadal cut himself off, getting his phone out and scrolling through until he got to Murray’s message. “I feel that it’s quite interesting,” he added, explaining why he was going to such lengths.
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray attended Rafael Nadal’s ceremony (Image: Getty)
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“‘Hey Rafa, haven’t spoken to you in a while. Just checking in to make sure you are okay’,” he recited.
“So, honestly, [it] take me like five seconds to realise what I was reading, because at the beginning, I said, ‘Okay, he’s such a nice guy. He’s sking how I’m doing, family.’ After five seconds, I said, ‘This always British sense of humour!’”
Nadal also made it clear that he didn’t stoop to Murray’s level when Arsenal eventually got knocked out of the Champions League. “By the way, I didn’t text him back when Inter beat Arsenal. Well, PSG, sorry,” he laughed.
Touching on Murray’s surprise appearance with Federer and Djokovic, the Spaniard revealed that he had no idea they’d be there, though it wasn’t completely unexpected.
He added: “I didn’t know, but I could imagine that they come. That’s true. The agendas of people sometimes are difficult. But of course, probably they know that they are going make that day very special and that day is going to be very special for me.
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“Novak is playing here, so it’s easier. But in the same time Andy and Roger, that just came on purpose, meant a lot to me. Because, at the end, they represent a very important part of my tennis career, because in some way we pushed each other to the limits, as I said in my speech. And that’s the truth.”
As for their years of competition, the 38-year-old was glad that he had more than one big rival.
“I think I always say the same, because we were three, four of the best rivals. In some way when you are only two, you know, you can lose a little bit the motivation in some way sometimes because the other start losing or gets injured,” he said.
“But here, being four, you never had to imagine, because always one of that four was winning the tournament. So that, to put in perspective, never allowed us to stay relaxed or to give us the break in terms of intensity, in terms of the determination of keep improving our game.
“So I think within us, we show the way to follow to be better and better. We achieved our dreams. And probably because of that kind of rivalry we raised the numbers of the history of tennis to the next level. And that helps to the next generations to try to improve them. And I’m sure that’s going to happen.”
