Rafael Nadal reveals devious text from Andy Murray as ‘Big 4’ are reunited
The tears flowed for Rafael Nadal as he was handed a fitting farewell at Roland Garros, with the presence of his three biggest rivals completing his perfect story in Paris.
The 14-time French Open champion was saluted by a capacity crowd at Court Philippe-Chatrier, where he created so much of his glorious legacy prior to his retirement from the game last November.
Nadal failed to contain his emotions as he was lavished with praise, with the arrival of his great rivals Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray the highlight of the ceremony.
“This is tough. I’ve been playing on this court for last 20 years,” said Nadal, as he addressed the crowd that included defending Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz.
“Where I am standing, I enjoyed, I suffered, I won and I lost, I lived many emotions on that court – without a doubt the most important tennis court of my career.
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“In 2005, I played for the first time aged 18, my first major experience. From that day on I fully understood what Roland Garros meant.
“I’ve experienced everything over this 20 years, I’ve had incredible rivals like Andy, Novak and of course, Roger, and many others who pushed me to my physical and mental limits.
“Roland Garros is unique, a fundamental part of tennis history. Many thanks, for everything.”
He also had special words for his big rivals, as the images of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic reunited in Paris, creating headlines around the sporting world.
“You gave me a hard time on court but I really enjoyed competing with all of you,” said Nadal as he addressed his rivals.
“We can be good friends even though we had the best rivalries.”
Nadal went on to reveal he had a cheeky text message from Murray after his Arsenal team beat Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals, with the Scot not missing a chance to toast a victory for his team over Nadal’s.
“My good friend Andy, we were not in touch for a while,” Nadal said in a press conference, as he pulled his phone from his pocket to read the text message.
“The day that Arsenal beat Real Madrid, when the match just finished, after one second, he text me a message, telling me, ‘Hey, Rafa, haven’t spoken to you in a while. Just checking in to make sure you are okay.’
“So honestly, [it] takes me like five seconds to realise what I was reading, because at the beginning, I said, ‘Okay, he’s such a nice guy. He’s asking about how I’m doing, family.’
“After five seconds, I said, ‘This British sense of humour.’ By the way, I didn’t text him back when PSG beat Arsenal.”
Nadal went on to confirm his rivalry with Federer, Djokovic and Murray took his game to new heights.
“They represent a very important part of my tennis career, because in some way we pushed each other to the limits, as I said in my speech. And that’s the truth,” added Nadal.
“I think I always say the same, because we were three, four of the best rivals. In some way when you are only two, you can lose a little bit the motivation in some way sometimes because the other starts losing or gets injured.
“But here, being four, you never had to imagine, because always one of that four was winning the tournament.
“So that, to put in perspective, never allowed us to stay relaxed or to give us the break in terms of intensity, in terms of the determination to keep improving our game.
“So I think within us, we show us the way to follow to be better and better. We achieved our dreams.
“Probably because of that kind of rivalry, we raise the numbers of the history of tennis to the next level. That helps to the next generations to try to improve them. And I’m sure that’s going to happen.”
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