Rafael Nadal’s uncle Toni has brutally admitted that his nephew’s retirement ceremony wasn’t good enough.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion officially ended his career at the Davis Cup Finals on Tuesday as Spain suffered defeat in their quarter-final tie.
Although Nadal’s uncle and former coach skipped the former world No. 1’s farewell, he watched from afar and brutally claimed it wasn’t “up to par”.
Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and David Beckham were among those to appear on-screen sending parting messages to the 92-time title winner.
But Toni didn’t think it was good enough for his nephew, even though he understood the intentions behind the ceremony. Asked whether he felt it was a fitting goodbye, the Mallorcan tennis coach told El Larguero de la SER: “No.”
Explaining why he wasn’t a fan of the tribute, Toni admitted they could have done more. “It was obviously emotional with the support of the public,” he continued.
“I like the fact that there are images at these events. I would have liked to see images of Rafael winning the Davis Cup in Seville, of Rafael in the Madrid tournament, of Roland Garros or Wimbledon, because this creates more emotion.
“I don’t mean to criticise anyone. I would have liked something different, on the level of his career. As a family member and as Rafael’s former coach, I appreciate the detail they had and the good intention. Afterwards, well, I would have liked something else.”
As for what he would have changed, the 63-year-old said: “Nowadays you can do much more emotional events by mixing music with images and Rafael is a guy whose images transmit passion and emotion. If they had done this, it would have been more up to par.”
Toni wasn’t able to be at Nadal’s last dance in Malaga because of work and only would’ve been able to make it to Sunday’s final, had Spain got that far.
“I had work in Madrid, today I’m in Soria and it was impossible for me. I saw everything on TV. I had planned to go to Malaga on Sunday, but I couldn’t go on Friday either due to commitments,” he added. “I would have liked to be there, I would have gone if I hadn’t had work commitments.”