Davis Cup bosses have responded to the huge backlash from their retirement ceremony for Rafael Nadal.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion officially ended his career at the team tournament on Tuesday when Spain lost their quarter-final tie. He was then honoured with a presentation but the likes of Carlos Moya and David Ferrer slammed the “shabby” tribute.
However, the tournament director and the International Tennis Federation president have now defended themselves, claiming they did what Nadal “wanted.
Spain took on the Netherlands in a knockout quarter-final tie on Tuesday, losing in a decisive doubles rubber. It immediately sent Nadal into retirement and the tournament celebrated his career with a ceremony.
The former world No. 1 got to address the crowd and his loved ones before being presented with a commemorative photo frame. A tribute video also played, showing highlights of Nadal’s career and video messages from the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
But many thought the presentation wasn’t good enough. Nadal’s uncle Toni claimed it wasn’t “up to par” while Spain’s team captain Ferrer said some of the 38-year-old’s rivals should’ve been there.
Nadal’s coach of seven years, Moya, said they felt it was “scruffy and shabby”. The Spanish tennis federation president also spoke out in agreement and blamed the ITF.
Davis Cup tournament director Feliciano Lopez and ITF president David Haggerty have now addressed the criticism, defending the way they honoured Nadal’s career.
Well, I’ll try to be very honest with you. I think we should focus, all of us, in the fact that Rafa chose Davis Cup, you know, to be the final tournament of his career instead of keep talking about his farewell ceremony,” Lopez – one of Nadal’s former rivals and teammates – said on Sunday.
“Honestly, we did our best. So I think we should put the focus more on the fact that he chose, you know, Davis Cup as his final tournament.”
Haggerty also claimed that they respected the 92-time title winner’s wishes when it came to paying tribute to his career.
He added: “Maybe just to add to that, Rafa is an amazing player and has a legacy of tennis that he will leave behind, inspiring millions of players around the world to play tennis, to continue to play.
“We felt it was very important to listen to what Rafa wanted and how he wanted to be celebrated. That’s exactly what we did. We took his lead, and we delivered on that.
Addressing the criticism head-on, the ITF boss continued: “People can have whatever opinions they want of whether it was right or not.
But to me, the most important thing was we delivered a ceremony that was what Rafa wanted, and being who he is, was a great evening, and it was much appreciated.”
There have been reports that organisers expected Spain to advance to Friday’s semi-final, explaining why Tuesday’s ceremony was underwhelming.
Ahead of the Finals in Malaga, Lopez confirmed that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray had asked to attend Nadal’s farewell. But none of them turned up in the end and had only been planning to come at the end of the week.
