Novak Djokovic Breaks Silence About Not Attending Rafael Nadal's Davis Cup Farewell
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Novak Djokovic's absence from Rafael Nadal's final day as a professional tennis player generated much attention. The Serbian has now revealed why he was not present at his rival's farewell.
Nadal's retirement announcement led to an emotional reaction from Djokovic. He stated that the 14-time French Open champion was his biggest rival, and a big part of him had left the sport with him, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
Djokovic also promised in a social media tribute to attend Nadal's final appearance at November's Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. Team Spain was drawn against the Netherlands in the quarterfinal of the iconic competition.
The Spaniards were expected to win and advance to the quarterfinals. However, Nadal's farewell ended in disaster. He and his teammates crashed out after a 1-2 defeat to the Dutch, who went on to reach the final.
Nadal also lost his final singles match to Botic van de Zandschulp. Carlos Alcaraz responded by winning the other singles contest to level the tie, but he and Marcel Granollers then lost the deciding doubles.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion's farewell took place afterward. It included a brief video containing tributes from various athletes, including Djokovic and Federer, before he concluded by saying he hopes to be remembered as a good person.
Although the ceremony elicited emotion, some significant figures in Nadal's life criticized it as underwhelming. Carlos Moya, Nadal's main coach for the final seven years of his career, blasted it as shabby.
The ceremony was also notable for Djokovic and Federer not being in attendance. Spanish Davis Cup captain David Ferrer felt their absence made the tribute to Nadal feel watered down and unfitting after everything the 38-year-old gave to the sport.
Djokovic's absence was particularly surprising after he had promised to attend Nadal's farewell. In a press conference at the Australian Open, the ten-time champion in Melbourne addressed why he was not in Malaga.
Last year's Olympic gold medalist revealed he and Murray, now his coach, planned to attend the semifinal since they and the organizers assumed Spain would beat the Netherlands. They could not fit the quarterfinal into their schedules.
"I don’t know the exact details as to how they envisioned the ceremony, but I know that the plan was to do it after the semis, if Spain were to go through. Murray and I planned to be there, we couldn’t fit the quarter-finals in our schedule, but we were a sure thing for the semis."
The tennis legend then gave an honest assessment of the ceremony Nadal received. He did not think it was done properly but admitted to not knowing the circumstances surrounding why it occurred in a manner many deemed not fitting.
"Unfortunately, it turned out the way it did, what are you gonna do? More than that, I don’t really know. I saw the video (of the ceremony). I don’t know, I don’t know if Rafa maybe didn’t want to make too much of a fuss about it in order not to bother other teams, matches… I don’t know, to be honest, but I feel bad that I wasn’t there."
"The ceremony, if you want my opinion, wasn’t done properly. Maybe Rafa himself wasn’t sure whether he’ll play or not, if he can play some more, and then maybe it was too late to do something bigger."
