French Open scrap farewell after Rafael Nadal says 2024 may not be his last
Nadal said on Saturday that he was not certain that this year’s tournament would be his last.
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Your support makes all the difference.French Open organisers have scrapped a planned farewell ceremony for Rafael Nadal after the 14-time champion revealed he may not quit this year after all.
The Spaniard, who turns 38 next week, was expected to retire at the end of the current season but said on Saturday that he was not certain that this year’s tournament would be his last.
“If I have to tell you it’s 100 per cent my last Roland Garros, sorry, but I will not, because I cannot predict what’s going on,” he said.
Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo admitted that Nadal had already told her about his apparent U-turn.
She said: “As you can imagine, we had something planned for him, but he said yesterday – he told us actually before yesterday – that because he doesn’t know if it’s going to be his last Roland Garros or not.
“He wants to leave the door open for him maybe to come back next year as a player. So we’re not going to push him obviously to do anything.
“It’s his decision when he wants to have a proper ceremony. So we’re not going to do it this year. That’s his wish, even though we’re ready to push the button.”
Nadal faces German world number four Alexander Zverev in his first-round match on Tuesday afternoon.
Mauresmo also revealed there would be no special send-off for Andy Murray, who is also wavering on whether to call it a day this year.
“Same as Rafa,” she said. “In advance I called him and he said ‘I don’t know, I’m not sure, let’s not do anything’.
“It seems that they don’t know, so we respect that.”