Novak Djokovic ‘feels bad’ for snubbing Rafael Nadal’s retirement ceremony at Davis Cup
Novak Djokovic ‘feels bad’ for snubbing Rafael Nadal’s retirement ceremony at Davis Cup
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Novak Djokovic has revealed he ‘feels bad’ for missing Rafael Nadal’s tennis retirement ceremony at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. Djokovic issued a statement on social media ahead of the special event that he would ‘be there in person to pay respect to Nadal’s stellar career’.
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But the Serbian 24-time major champion was not present to wave goodbye to Nadal – who hung up his racket after Spain’s defeat to the Netherlands – because he thought the Spanish team was going to progress further. Andy Murray, who is currently working as part of Djokovic’s coaching team for the Australian Open, also missed the underwhelming retirement ceremony, which was criticised by Nadal’s own coach as well as his uncle.
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‘I don’t know the exact details as to how they envisioned the ceremony, but I know that the plan was to do it after the semis, if Spain were to go through,’ Djokovic explained ahead of his match against Jaime Faria. ‘(Andy) Murray and I planned to be there, we couldn’t fit the quarter-finals in our schedule, but we were a sure thing for the semis.
‘Unfortunately, it turned out the way it did, what are you gonna do? More than that, I don’t really know. ‘I saw the video (of the ceremony). I don’t know, I don’t know if Rafa maybe didn’t want to make too much of a fuss about it in order not to bother other teams, matches… I don’t know, to be honest, but I feel bad that I wasn’t there.’.
