“It would have bothered me,” Rafael Nadal explains reason for not wanting a Roland Garros farewell tribute

Rafael Nadal will play at the Nordea Open in Bastad ahead of his final Olympics in Paris.

“It would have bothered me,” Rafael Nadal explains reason for not wanting a Roland Garros farewell tribute

Rafael Nadal (Image via Imago)

Rafael Nadal is probably on his final career Tour this season and has been enjoying the moments despite results not turning out as expected. The 38-year-old was meant to receive a tribute ceremony from the Roland Garros officials but later decided to leave the door open for a return to the French Open tournament.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner has won the French Open 14 times making him the record winner of the competition. However, weeks before the tournament there was uncertainty about his participation in the clay major tournament. The reasons were obvious – he was not getting the kind of results he expected.

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He had exited the Barcelona Open in the second round but followed it up with an impressive round of 16 Madrid exit. In Rome, he was expecting his best result, but a second-round exit jolted his hopes. Nevertheless, a few days later he announced his participation at the French Open but never admitted it was his last Roland Garros.

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He suffered a disappointing first-round exit after losing to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev. Despite talking to the crowd, he didn’t accept a farewell ceremony by the organizers. He has finally revealed he didn’t want it at that time.

At first, I said, ‘OK, let's go!’ But at the last minute (after the good training sessions) I said I didn’t want it, that's the truth. It would have bothered me to announce that it was the last time I was playing the tournament, knowing that I did not have the opportunity to prepare as I would have liked.
Rafael Nadal said via L’ Equipe

Nadal has been named among the Spanish Tennis Team to represent the country at the Paris Olympics. It has also been confirmed that he will partner with Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles at the Olympics.

Rafael Nadal leaves the door open for Roland Garros tribute, even as a retiree

Rafael Nadal has admitted that nothing prevents him from taking the Roland Garros tribute as a retiree. He accepted a Madrid Open emotional tribute but left the door open for a return at the French Open.

However, the Spaniard revealed that he didn’t want to leave on the present idea that it was his final Roland Garros rather he wanted to leave it to when he was ready.

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal waving to the Roland Garros crowd (via Imago)
And nothing prevents them from waiting a year. If the tribute takes place and I am retired, I will go there as a retiree. And if I still play, I will obviously be present. I preferred not to live with the idea that they had to pay tribute to me, because it was practically forcing me not to play here again and I was not ready at that time.
Rafael Nadal added

Recently, Nadal revealed that he has added the Nordea Open in Bastad as a tournament he will feature in ahead of his last Olympics. It is set to begin on the 15th of July.

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