Rafael Nadal's uncle and former long-term coach, Toni Nadal, said the retirement ceremony for him at the Davis Cup Finals did not meet his expectations.
Surprisingly to many, Toni did not attend the 14-time French Open champion's farewell, saying he had work to do in Italy. The 63-year-old coached the tennis legend for 27 years, from his childhood until 2017.
Millions of fans worldwide were devastated by how Nadal's farewell on the court at the Davis Cup Finals ended. He lost his final singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp, which handed the Netherlands a 1-0 lead.
Carlos Alcaraz restored hope by defeating Tallon Griekspoor to level the tie. However, an inspired Wesley Koolhof and van de Zandschulp defeated Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers to end Nadal's incredible career.
A retirement ceremony was held for Nadal afterward. The 38-year-old addressed the crowd for slightly over ten minutes, reflecting on his journey and thanking various people involved in his career.
That was followed by a video containing messages from various stars, including Nadal's great rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, as well as Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and Andres Iniesta.
Nadal concluded by saying he would like to be remembered as a good person rather than for his widely known achievements before a final goodbye to the crowd to conclude the ceremony.
There was a lot of emotion from Nadal, his Spanish teammates, and the crowd during the ceremony, showing how much the 22-time Grand Slam champion means to the people of Spain.
During an interview with El Larguero on SER Radio, acknowledged the emotions stirred by the retirement ceremony, meaning it achieved a basic part of bidding farewell to Nadal.
However, Toni Nadal did not like the retirement ceremony much overall, admitting it did not live up to his expectations and that he would have preferred something different. But Rafael's former coach also insisted he was not trying to criticize anyone.
"No (laughs). I like to see images in these events, I would have liked to see images of Rafael winning the Davis Cup in Seville, of Rafael at the Madrid tournament, at Roland Garros or Wimbledon, because this creates more emotion."
"I’m not trying to criticise anyone. I would have preferred something different, more in line with his career. I appreciate the gesture they had as a family member and former coach of Rafael, and the good intentions, but afterwards, I would have liked something else."
"Nowadays, much more emotional events can be organised by mixing music with images, and Rafael is a person whose images convey passion and emotion. If they had done this, it would have been more fitting."
Many fans were disappointed that Federer and Djokovic were not inside the arena for the ceremony. The Spanish newspaper El Espanol speculated that the pair planned to attend a ceremony on Friday since Spain was expected to defeat the Netherlands.
Whether that is true is unknown, but Toni was underwhelmed by Tuesday's ceremony regardless of whether something more significant had been planned for Friday.