{"id":28324,"date":"2025-02-24T03:21:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324"},"modified":"2025-02-24T03:21:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:21:32","slug":"rafael-nadal-set-to-get-very-big-retirement-ceremony-200-days-after-quitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal set to get ‘very big’ retirement ceremony 200 days after quitting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal at the ATP Finals. (Image: Getty.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Almost 200 days after he last stepped foot on the court, Rafael Nadal will be the centre of a retirement ceremony in Paris.<\/p>\n

The French Tennis Federation\u2019s president confirmed that Nadal, a 14-time winner at Roland Garros, will be given a \u201cnecessary\u201d retirement tribute at the French Open this year.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after Nadal\u2019s own retirement was slated by a host of tennis names, having bowed out with little fanfare at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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French tennis chief Gilles Moretton confirmed to Europe 1 radio: \u201cThere will, necessarily, be something for Rafael Nadal, a very big tribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cA real tribute, very important. We are attached to it. The [Davis Cup] tribute was not really the one that we had to pay him We were ready last year and he wasn\u2019t ready, he was still a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to see him at home, at the beginning of December, with Amelie Mauresmo to talk to him about this tribute that we will organize for him, and talked to him about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will give the outlines in some time of this role of ambassador that he can hold with us. The two \u2018brands\u2019, Rafael Nadal and Roland-Garros, are one. So yes, we are considering things with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal after his final match at the Davis Cup Finals. (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Having hung up his racket following defeat to Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp, in a 6-4, 6-4 loss at the Davis Cup without the theatrics that was Roger Federer\u2019s goodbye to tennis, Novak Djokovic slammed the event.<\/p>\n

The Serb, who was not in attendance in Spain, said: \u201cI saw the video [of the ceremony]. I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t know if Rafa maybe didn\u2019t want to make too much of a fuss about it in order not to bother other teams, matches. I don\u2019t know, to be honest, but I feel bad that I wasn\u2019t there,\u201d said the Serb, who had planned to be at the tournament if Spain progressed past the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were together on the court in Riyadh, that was the moment, a nice moment. I saw him play at Roland Garros, we played each other at the Olympics. The ceremony, if you want my opinion, wasn\u2019t done properly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMaybe Rafa himself wasn\u2019t sure whether he\u2019ll play or not, if he can play some more, and then maybe it was too late to do something bigger. I don\u2019t know, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Carlos Moya, Nadal\u2019s coach, added: \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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal will be honoured at his favourite event on the tennis calendar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nRafael Nadal set to get 'very big' retirement ceremony 200 days after quitting - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Nadal set to get 'very big' retirement ceremony 200 days after quitting - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal will be honoured at his favourite event on the tennis calendar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-24T03:21:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-66.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"646\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28324\",\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal set to get 'very big' retirement ceremony 200 days after quitting - 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