Carlos Moya has criticised the retirement ceremony of Rafael Nadal, describing it as ‘shabby.’
The 23-time Grand Slam champion retired at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga on Tuesday after Spain lost to the Netherlands.
Nadal’s last ever tennis match was a straight sets defeat to Botic Van De Zandschulp with the Spaniard ending his historic career.
The moment was supposed to be a touching tribute to one of Spain’s ever sportsman and a reflection of Nadal’s legacy on the sport.
However the ceremony has been open to criticism with Rafael Nadal’s uncle being the first to criticise the event.
Now Carlos Moya has added to the complaints as he described it as ‘shabby,’ “It’s not the time to blame anyone… But the feeling we’re all left with is a bit scruffy and shabby,” Moya was quoted by tennisuptodate.com as saying.
“It’s true it was a Tuesday night, but this is sport. It was known months in advance that if Spain lost, Rafa would retire. Nadal is far above all this. I saw Rafa calm. He had accepted that this moment would come. We’ve known for months that this was going to happen, but we’re still processing it.
“It’s been a farewell that hasn’t lived up to what Rafa Nadal represents in sport.”
There was also criticism from Davis Cup captain David Ferrer who has been a long time friend and rival of Nadal.
The former Roland Garros finalist admitted it was a disappointing event, “The farewell to someone as significant as Rafa was watered down. Perhaps some very important people in his tennis career were missing. I missed seeing those individuals who were prominent in his journey,” Ferrer said about the lack of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the ceremony.
“Rafa will have plenty of opportunities to receive tributes at major tournaments like Roland Garros. But it’s true that, on a professional level, his tennis career has ended, and Rafa’s farewell deserved something more.”
There has been no comment from the organisers of the event so far.
