RAFAEL NADAL shed tears as he returned to Roland Garros as a retired tennis star – but he misplaced one of the sheets of his on-court speech.
The greatest French Open champion in history was teary-eyed as he said thank you and farewell to 15,000 fans on his second home of Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Seven months after he quit the sport, the Spanish superstar was afforded a special presentation by organisers, with supporters donning clay-court-coloured T-shirts.
His fiercest rivals – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – all made a special trip to the French capital.
And a plaque bearing Nadal’s footprint was revealed on court as a lasting memory of his stellar achievements.
Yet the 14-time singles conqueror uncharacteristically fluffed his lines as he admitted he had forgotten one of the A4 pieces of paper that had contained his speech.
Luckily, he was saved by a ball kid who ran on to court to hand it to him.
It was a rare slip-up in an arena where he used to hit his lines with perfection and where he had his most famous triumphs.
Nadal was given a standing ovation – and a random interlude of interpretative dance – for his homecoming as he came dressed in a black suit.
Between 2005 and 2024, Nadal won a historic 14 singles championships on this court, winning 112 of his 116 matches.
It is one of the most supreme records in world sport – nobody, especially not in tennis, can come remotely close to that level of dominance in one place.
His last French Open appearance was a straight-sets loss to Alexander Zverev 12 months ago and after he bombed out of the Paris Olympics on the same surface, it made sense he was given an appropriate goodbye.
The hair has receded considerably since his introduction here, aged 18, in 2005, when he had long, flowing locks and bore a resemblance to a cast member of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Nadal, who turns 39 next month, was supported by his family, including his wife and two-year-old son.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion said: “Thank you very much. This is difficult. This is tough. I have lived many emotions on this court.
“This is, without doubt, the most important tennis court in my career.
“It has been an incredible story that began in 2004 when I came to Roland Garros for the very first time.
“I could barely walk due to my foot injury but that year I climbed to the top of the court on crutches and looked from up there. I dreamed of coming back the following year to compete.
“In 2005, I was finally able to play here for the first time. I was 18 and my major experience was the match I played against my childhood friend and rival Richard Gasquet.
“From that day on, I fully understand what Roland Garros meant. I experienced everything over these past 20 years.”
A tribute video was played on the big screens and it contained messages from the other members of the tennis Fab Four.
‘GREAT FRIENDS… BEST RIVALRIES’
The quartet of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray have 69 major championships between them.
Nadal said: “After all these years fighting, it’s unbelievable how the time has changed the perspective of everything.
“You don’t know yet, Novak. Probably Andy knows, but Roger and I have talked about this a couple of times.
“All these nerves, pressures, strange feelings when you see each other as rivals. It’s completely different when you finish your career.
“All of us achieved our dreams. We became tennis players, played in important stages of our career, and built an amazing rivalry.
“We showed the world we can fight as hard as possible but in a good way. Be good colleagues and respect each other.
“It means a lot that you are all here. You gave me some hard times on court.
“I really enjoyed it a lot, pushing myself to the limit, every single day, to compete with you.
“At the end, tennis is just a game.
“All of you are here, and it’s a great message to the world. That we can be great friends even if we had the best rivalries.
“Thank you very much for everything. I really hope and am sure we will continue to do positive things for our sport in the future.
“Without a doubt our legacy is there, we can keep build things and make beautiful things together.”
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