FFT President Moretton promises a grand tribute for Nadal at Roland-Garros
Rafael Nadal bid farewell to professional tennis at the end of last season.
After an illustrious career that began in 2001, the Spaniard, who won 22 Grand Slams and 36 Masters 1000 titles, among others, played his last Davis Cup match in Malaga.
In the quarter-finals, he lost the first match to Botic Van de Zandschulp and the Netherlands, before his country was eliminated in the doubles.
Rafael Nadal's main achievements have been at Roland Garros, a tournament he has won 14 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022) without ever losing a final.
King of the clay, Nadal said goodbye to his favourite tournament in the French capital in 2024. First at Roland-Garros, where he lost in the first round to Alexander Zverev, then at the Paris Olympics, where he crashed out in the second round after losing to rival Novak Djokovic.
Nadal's statistics at the Paris Grand Slam are staggering, with 112 wins against just 4 defeats, giving him a winning percentage of 96.5% (only Söderling in 2009, Djokovic in 2015 and 2021 and Zverev in 2024 have managed to topple him in the tournament).
However, Nadal did not have a real career ceremony after his last match at Roland Garros, but the tournament organization should remedy this in the coming months.
President of the French Tennis Federation, Gilles Moretton, spoke about Rafael Nadal on Europe 1 in the last few hours.
"We need to do something for Rafael Nadal, a real tribute that's really important. That's what we want. The tribute he received at the Davis Cup was not really the one he deserved.
We went to see him at his home in early December, with Amélie Mauresmo, to talk about the tribute we're going to do for him, and we also talked to him about the future.
In a few moments, we'll be outlining the ambassadorial role he'll have with us. The two 'brands', Rafael Nadal and Roland-Garros, are one and the same. So yes, we'll be looking at doing things with him," asserted Moretton.
