The Davis Cup Finals tournament director has opened up on plans to honour Rafael Nadal’s career with a ceremony.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion will retire at the World Cup of men’s tennis later this month while representing Spain.
Nadal will already be surrounded by compatriots and competitors on his team. But the likes of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are also planning to turn up for his farewell.
After spending the better part of the last two years sidelined by injuries, Nadal will officially wave goodbye to professional tennis at the upcoming Davis Cup Finals.
It’s set to be a fitting farewell for the former No. 1, who has helped Spain win the tournament four times. Nadal will have one last chance to represent his country on home soil, with Finals week taking place in Malaga.
And organisers are keen to honour him in the right way as he officially bows out. While he wouldn’t go into detail, tournament director Feliciano Lopez has confirmed there will be a fitting tribute to Nadal.
“It’s confidential of course, but we’re planning to do something very special for him, we have to celebrate his career and his legacy,” the former world No. 12 said.
There’s a lot of things that we’re planning but for now I cannot share any more details with you, but we’re planning something very special. We are going to try and live up to his legacy and his enormous career.”
However, tournament bosses will need to ensure the ceremony comes at the right time. Spain will face the Netherlands in the quarter-final on November 19. If they win, they will play their semi-final on the 22nd and the final takes place on the 24th.
Lopez doesn’t want to disturb the Spanish squad in the middle of the tournament and he knows Nadal won’t want to affect his team’s hopes.
The tournament director added: “It’s very difficult, because the most important thing is, and Rafa has been very clear, not to do anything that could affect the team.
The priority is Spain. Once his participation is over we’ll do something, but we don’t know when. We’ll have everything planned but we’ll decide the moment as we go along.”
But when the time does come, some of Nadal’s biggest rivals want to be there to see him enter retirement.
Djokovic previously revealed that he would head to Malaga in an Instagram post. He wrote: “I wish you best possible farewell in Malaga with Davis Cup team of Spain. I will be there in person to pay respect to your stellar career.”
And Lopez revealed that Murray was also keen to come along. “Novak Djokovic posted on Instagram that he wants to be there, also Andy Murray wants to be there,” the Spaniard said.
