Rafael Nadal responded briefly and sincerely to Novak Djokovic after his long-standing adversary missed his farewell at the Davis Cup Finals.
When Nadal first revealed his retirement plans last month, the 24-time Grand Slam champion promised to be in Malaga for his final match. However, Djokovic skipped Spain’s quarter-final tie against the Netherlands on Tuesday, intending to attend only at the weekend, hoping Spain would progress far enough for him to catch Nadal’s swansong in person.
Had Spain beaten the Netherlands, they would have played their semi-final on Friday, and victory there would have booked their place in the championship match on Sunday. But alas, it wasn’t to be.
Many sporting greats were hoping to witness the former World No. 1’s final performance. Tournament director Feliciano Lopez revealed that Djokovic and Andy Murray were among those who expressed interest in attending. However, neither man showed, both having assumed that Spain would progress further than the quarters.
As a result, no high-profile guests were on hand to see Nadal off into retirement. That said, his ‘Big Four’ rivals all sent touching video messages, which were played during the post-most farewell ceremony.
Responding to Djokovic’s on his Instagram story, Nadal wrote: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” accompanied by a heart emoji. In the clip, the Serb expressed his admiration for the 22-time Grand Slam champion, saying: “Rafa. First of all, congratulations on your amazing career. Your family, your team, yourself should be extremely proud of everything that you have achieved throughout your career that lasted more than 20 years.
(Image: Getty Images)
“In the tennis locker room we will miss your warm-ups, your sprints, your jumps, your incredibly competitive parchis – the games that you had with tour team before your matches. We had a lot of fun times sharing the locker room. I just hope that today, even though it is a sad day for tennis, it is a sad day for Spain and sport in general that you are retiring.
“But at the same time, I hope that everyone will celebrate your career because there is so much to embrace, so much to celebrate. I think more importantly, you would agree with this, is the mark that you left behind in terms of the connection with the people, in terms of how you inspired millions of children around the world to grab a tennis racket.
“How you conveyed your passion and love for the game, how you carried yourself on the court, how you’ve shown respect to your opponents, to the entire tennis ecosystem throughout the course of your entire career. I’ve been very honoured and thrilled to be called your rival.
“Over the last almost 20 years we’ve played more than 60 matches. I have learned so much in our encounters and thank you very much for also making me the player that I am and that I was over the last 20 years.”
(Image: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
It comes after Djokovic explained that he and Nadal couldn’t be close friends due to their historic on-court rivalry, which spanned nearly two decades. “Nadal is only a year older than me, we are both Geminis, at first we even went to dinner together, twice. But even with him, friendship is impossible,” he told Corriere Della Sera.
“I have always respected and greatly admired him. Thanks to him and Federer, I grew up and became who I am. This will unite us forever; therefore I feel gratitude towards them. Nadal is a part of my life, in the last fifteen years I’ve seen more of him than my mum!
“We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies. I’ve always had respect for Federer, he was one of the greatest of all time. He had an extraordinary impact, but I’ve never been close to him.”
