Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd after he and Carlos Alcaraz lost their doubles match at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd at the Paris Olympics
Rafael Nadal’s retirement date and tournament remains a mystery, but one tennis journalist has urged him not to accept the “millions” to stage his big farewell event in Saudi Arabia.
The tennis great announced last year that the 2024 season will most likely be his final campaign as a professional, but he has kept mum when asked about the final event.
It was first suggested that the French Open would be his grand finale as he is a 14-time champion in Paris, but the tournament has come and gone.
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Next was the Paris Olympics at Roland Garros, but Nadal has confirmed that he plans to play at the Laver Cup in Berlin in September.
In fact, after losing at Paris 2024 the 22-time Grand Slam winner snapped back at journalists who dared ask him about his future, saying: “You want me to retire every day guys, you ask me for that.
“I am trying to do my best. I cannot live every single day with the feeling that it’s going to be or not going to be my last match.”
Of course that hasn’t stopped fans, former players, analysts and journalists from speculating with some saying the Laver Cup could well be his final tournament as he will emulate his great rival Roger Federer as the Swiss bowed out of tennis after playing doubles with Nadal at the 2022 edition in London.
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Although the Laver Cup is part of the ATP-sanctioned event, it is still seen as an exhibition event and French journalist Benoît Maylin doesn’t think the tournament – or an exhibition event in Saudi Arabia – should be his big sendoff.
“Who’s going to be able to afford Nadal’s farewell? It should have been at Roland Garros this year or at the Olympics, the symbolism would have been strong but he didn’t want to,” Maylin said on Sans Filet.
“[Will his farewell be] at the Laver Cup, as with Federer, who lined up the zeros to get it in September? In Saudi Arabia, where he became the ambassador of their tennis federation this year and who could organise an exhibition worth millions?
“As long as it’s nothing like that, it would tarnish the image of a champion renowned for his ethics.”
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Instead, the Frenchman feels the Davis Cup Finals – which will be staged in Malaga, Spain – would be a “beautiful” sendoff for the tennis legend.
He added: “So if he has to stop this year, let him do it in Spain, defending his country’s colours in the Davis Cup, with Carlos Alcaraz. That would be beautiful.”
Spain still have to qualify for the Davis Cup Finals knockout stage in Malaga. They face Australia, Czech Republic and France in the group stage in September.
Last year they failed to qualify for the knockout phase after finishing third behind Czech Republic and Serbia in Group C.