David Haggerty doesn’t think that the criticism surrounding Rafael Nadal’s farewell is justified at all as the ITF President claims the organization staged it as instructed by the Spanish tennis icon.
Last Tuesday, the 38-year-old played his last match as a pro tennis player after he lost to Neherland’s Botic van de Zandschulp and Spain exited the Davis Cup Finals in the quarterfinal stage.
After Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers were beaten by van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof in the deciding doubles match, Nadal took the microphone and a special ceremony was held. During the ceremony, the former 22-time Grand Slam champion addressed the crowd as the highlights of his career were being played, including special messages from Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Serena Williams.
However, not many were pleased with the way went out, with some pretty much describing it as a pretty poor farewell for one of the greatest players ever. Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya described it as “tacky,” Spanish Davis Cup captain David Ferrer said it was “weak,” while Uncle Toni bluntly made it clear that he “did not like it.”
Rafael Nadal© Tenis Espana/Instagram – Fair Use
ITF President Haggerty responds to the Nadal farewell backlash
“Rafa is an amazing player and has a legacy of tennis that he will leave behind, inspiring millions of players around the world to play tennis, to continue to play. We felt it was very important to listen to what Rafa wanted and how he wanted to be celebrated. That’s exactly what we did,” Haggerty said.
“We took his lead, and we delivered on that. People can have whatever opinions they want of whether it was right or not, but to me, the most important thing was we delivered a ceremony that was what Rafa wanted—and, being who he is, was a great evening, and it was much appreciated.”
Meanwhile, Nadal kept it humble in his retirement speech and said that he was “a kid from a small village” who succeeded in his goal.