‘Fab four' reunited at Roland Garros as Nadal is honoured
PA Media/DPA
Paris
Rafael Nadal was joined by old rivals Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as he returned to the French Open for a ceremony in his honour.
The 'fab four' were reunited as Nadal, the 14 time-champion, was presented with a special 'legend' trophy, while a plaque bearing his footprint was unveiled on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the scene of all his triumphs.
Nadal, who retired last year, broke down in tears as he gave an emotional speech but then burst out laughing when he realized he had misplaced one of the pages, with a ball kid rushing on to hand him the missing sheet.
It was one of the only times he forgot his lines at the Paris grand slam during almost two decades of dominance in which he won 112 of his 116 matches.
Nearly every member of the 15,000 crowd was given a clay-coloured T-shirt to wear, bearing the message 'Merci Rafa'.
Those who were not instead wore white tops, creating a mosaic in the stands spelling out 'RG 14 X', and 'RAFA' between two love hearts.
The 38-year-old, known as the 'King of Clay', walked out to stadium announcer Marc Maury's famous introduction, listing every one of the 14 years he won the title.
Wearing a black suit and shirt, Nadal stood alone in the middle of the scene of his greatest triumphs as a video montage of those victories played out on the big screen.
Afterwards, he addressed the crowd in French, English and Spanish, saying: 'This is tough. I've been playing on this court for last 20 years.
'Where I am standing I enjoyed, I suffered, I won and I lost, I lived many emotions on that court - without a doubt the most important tennis court of my career.
'In 2005 I played for the first time aged 18, my first major experience. From that day on I fully understood what Roland Garros meant.
'I've experienced everything over this 20 years, I've had incredible rivals like Andy, Novak and of course, Roger, and many others who pushed me to my physical and mental limits.
'Roland Garros is unique, a fundamental part of tennis history. Many thanks, for everything.'
The big screen then cut to Federer, Djokovic and Murray, who said: 'Hi Rafa. After after all these years, and all these fights, we couldn't let you leave like that.
'We really wanted to leave you a message and let you know your old pals will always be with you.' The three of them then walked out, Djokovic and Murray next to each other despite the recent, unexpected end to their player-coach partnership.
As current defending champions Carlos Alcaraz, and Iga Swiatek watched from the stands, Nadal hugged his former adversaries - the four of them boasting a combined 69 major titles.
'You gave me a hard time on court but I really enjoyed competing with all of you,' he told them.
'We can be good friends even though we had the best rivalries.'
It was certainly a more celebratory occasion than his last appearance, when a clearly unfit Nadal suffered a three-set first-round defeat by Alexander Zverev last year, and a fitting way for the Majorcan to say a proper farewell.
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