The former coach of the man from Manacor confessed that neither the day nor the time helped, but he also assured that it is no excuse because “it was known months in advance that if Spain lost, Rafa would retire.”
It is still hard to come to terms with the fact that Rafael Nadal will never be seen on a tennis court as a professional player again . The winner of 22 Grand Slams and, for many, the best sportsman in the history of Spain, hung up his racket after the elimination of the Spanish team in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup in Malaga . The sadness caused by the unexpected defeat of the team captained by David Ferrer was compounded by the farewell of Rafa Nadal as a tennis player. But the tribute that the Mallorcan received did not seem to please many people.
The attempt to win the Davis Cup was mixed with the nostalgia and sadness of this being Rafael Nadal’s last tournament, and the experiment went wrong. Neither Spain made it through to the next round, nor did Nadal have a farewell worthy of his status as a legend of world sport. And there were several factors that produced the cold ending: a Tuesday at one in the morning, on pay-TV, and with a farewell video in which many personalities were missing.
And Carlos Moyà, former tennis player and Nadal’s coach until last Tuesday, spoke about this tribute in an interview with Onda Cero’s RadioEstadio: “The feeling we all have is that the farewell they gave Nadal was a bit sloppy and shabby. It’s true that it was a Tuesday night, but this is sport and it was known months in advance that if Spain lost, Rafa would retire. He is far above all this.”
But, apart from the farewell, he wanted to talk about his feelings a few days after leaving Nadal’s coach: ” We are still coming to terms with it . We knew that this week would come, but the retirement has been a bit early . I didn’t see Nadal as bad as people might think,” confessed the Mallorcan.
Carlos Moyá: "Nos queda la sensación de que la despedida de Rafa fue desaliñada y cutre" | Onda Cero Radio https://t.co/lGluVOX3lJ
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Despite the fact that Nadal had an uphill battle from the start, he fought, as he has done throughout his career, to avoid defeat in his last match. Moyà was once again overcome by the dedication and effort of the man from Manacor: “ He has great physical qualities and an innate talent for tennis, but his head is out of this world. I have rarely seen his capacity for evolution and adaptation.”
Since last Tuesday, Carlos Moyà has been free to play professional coach again, but he still doesn’t know what he’s going to do in the future, although he does have one thing clear: “In what remains for me in tennis, it will be impossible for me to relive what I experienced with Nadal .” And the figure and memory of the 14-time winner of Roland Garros will live on in the memory of the tennis world and of Spain.