PARIS – His rivals over the past two decades would have been well advised to take note: Rafael Nadal‘s kryptonite on the orange clay of Paris was not to be found in his racket, but in his heart. Dressed in a suit jacket at the Philippe Chatrier stadium, something unprecedented, the Spaniard finally got the tennis send-off he deserved.
‘They made me feel like just another Frenchman here,’ he said, exhausted from so many emotions, on an afternoon that saw him embrace Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray on 25 May 2025 at Roland Garros, a remarkable anniversary of another 25 May, this one in 2005, when he played for the first time in the Grand Slam he would go on to win 14 times.
Nothing remained of the Herculean, powerful and unbeatable Nadal who, over two decades, won 112 of the 116 matches he played at the French Open: on Sunday, the Spaniard was a leaf in the wind, fragile and trembling, vulnerable as never before.
It was no wonder, for who would be capable of thanking their family, friends, wife, technical team and uncle-coach in French, English and Spanish without breaking down?
Never before had Nadal been heard to speak so much French in public, even if it was a carefully prepared speech. And never before had it been apparent that the heart that helped him win so much also has its limits when it is warmed to the level it was on Sunday, the day of his last tango in Paris.
The message to Toni, his uncle and coach for most of his career, was heartfelt and uncompromising: no sugar-coated words, for those who wanted to read between the lines, the story of a bond as successful as it was stressful and impossible to sustain without bruises.
‘Toni, you are the reason I am here, thank you for dedicating a large part of your life to me. Making me suffer, laugh, and also pushing me to the limit. What we have been through has not always been easy, but it has undoubtedly been worth it. I want you to know that my gratitude for sacrificing so much for me is infinite. You have been, without a doubt, the best coach I could ever have had.’
Or the message to his wife, María Francisca, who is pregnant: ‘I hope I can make you as happy as you have made me. We both know that this last year and a half has not been easy.’
Of course, the highlight came at 6:40 p.m., with a powerful entrance: Djokovic, Federer and Murray entering the stadium in unison to kick off a collective catharsis.
It was already a sea of tears. Federer and Nadal’s tears at the Swiss player’s farewell in September 2022, shown on the giant screen in the stadium, mingled with those of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray in May 2025 in France.
Nadal, improvising and without reading from a script, dedicated some powerful words to the only one of the four still competing, champion in Geneva this weekend and the most successful player of all time.
‘Novak, we’ve talked about this with Roger a couple of times: when you stop playing, things change,’ Nadal said to Djokovic, who has spoken so often in recent times about how difficult it was for him to be ‘the third man’, the unwelcome guest at a party that was supposed to be for two.
So what is needed to make Nadal’s words make sense? Djokovic’s retirement. When he says goodbye, the lines will once again form a triangle with vertices in London 2022, Paris 2025 and the place and time of the Serbian’s choosing. Perhaps then a kryptonite hidden until now will also appear.
