Nadal's Davis Cup Farewell Seemed 'Very Cold' According To Corretja
News
Two-time French Open runner-up Alex Corretja has become the latest figure to express disappointment with Rafael Nadal's retirement ceremony at the Davis Cup Finals.
Millions of fans worldwide watched Nadal's final professional appearance at the Davis Cup Finals. Team Spain started as favorites for the tie against the Netherlands, but things went terribly wrong, much to the disappointment of the home crowd in Malaga.
Nadal lost the final match of his professional career to Botic van de Zandschulp before Carlos Alcaraz leveled the tie and forced a decider by overcoming Tallon Griekspoor.
However, van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof defeated Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers to eliminate Team Spain and end Nadal's career. Granollers, a doubles specialist, badly struggled throughout the contest.
Afterward, an emotional Nadal received a retirement ceremony. After addressing the crowd, a video containing short tributes from tennis players and athletes in other sports, such as Andres Iniesta, was played.
Nadal's final words to the crowd before the ceremony ended were that he would like to be remembered as a good person from a small village in Mallorca. Many in the stadium were in tears as he left the court.
Although the ceremony was touching in some ways, some pivotal figures in Nadal's life criticized it for being underwhelming. Carlos Moya, Nadal's primary coach for the last seven years of his career, called it shabby.
Toni Nadal, Rafael's uncle and longtime coach until 2017, admitted the ceremony did not meet his expectations, while Spanish Davis Cup captain David Ferrer lamented Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer's absence.
The International Tennis Federation's president, David Haggerty, defended the ceremony, claiming Nadal was consulted and received the ceremony he asked for based on what he outlined.
Nonetheless, many remain unhappy. Corretja can be added to the list of disappointed figures with how Nadal's career ended, telling Eurosport that something more notable for the 22-time Grand Slam champion would have felt more fitting.
"We all felt that it was not an epic moment. There were not very emotional feelings going on.It was very difficult because Spain just lost a few minutes before and everything seems to be very cold. It was because it was not just an exhibition. It was a very important tournament for everyone."
"Once Spain lost, it was like now we need to make this recognition to Rafa, but no one was ready for that. Plus, then the images they showed and the people that were in the videos or whatever, which even if they were stars, they were great."
"But at some moment, we felt like we were expecting something else on court, some of his ex-colleagues or whatever. They were not ready for that, because they were thinking that maybe to do the whole thing on Friday, but they forgot that tennis, you know, you can lose to anyone."
"And that's what the Netherlands did against Spain. It was good because they tried their best and Rafael was quite emotional with the crowd and everyone and everything, but not as deep as we felt. Rafael is always epic, and we didn't feel that epic on his goodbye."
