French Open: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray join the ceremony for Rafael Nadal
French Open: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray join the ceremony for Rafael Nadal
PARIS — Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray showed up at the French Open on Sunday to participate in a ceremony honoring 14-time tournament champion Rafael Nadal, symbolizing the approaching end of a golden era in men's tennis.
During the tribute to Nadal, a video played showing his three rivals — together, the quartet with a combined 69 Grand Slam titles came to be known as the Big Four.
“We couldn’t let you leave like this,” Murray in the taped segment, and then he, Federer and Djokovic walked out together onto the clay court.
Nadal, who turns 39 next month and retired after last season, went over to them and gave each a hug. They all patted him on the back.
“At the end, now, it’s all about being happy about everything that we achieved,” Nadal said. “At the end, all of us achieved our dreams."
Federer, now 43, played his last match in 2021 and announced his retirement the following year. Murray, who turned 38 this month, retired after participating in the Paris Olympics last year and briefly coached Djokovic this season. Djokovic, who turned 38 on Thursday and won his 100th career title on Saturday, is the only member of the group still active on tour.
Djokovic has won the most Grand Slam titles for a man, 24. Nadal is next on the list with 22, followed by Federer with 20. Murray won three.
“After all these years fighting for everything, it’s unbelievable how time changes the perspective of everything,” Nadal told them. “You don’t know yet, Novak. Probably you know already, Andy. With Roger, we have talked about it a couple times. All of the nerves, pressure, strange feelings you feel when we see each other when we are rivals — it’s completely different when you finish your career.”
Nadal and Djokovic played each other 60 times, the most matches between two men in the Open era of tennis, which began in 1969. Djokovic led the series 31-29, taking their final encounter in the second round of the Paris Olympics last year, although Nadal led 8-2 in French Open matchups.
Nadal led Federer 24-16, including 6-0 at Roland-Garros. Nadal led Murray 17-7.
“We showed the world that we can fight as hard as possible, but being good colleagues and respecting each other very well. And for me, it means a lot that you are all here,” Nadal said. “You gave me some hard times on court, honestly, but I really enjoyed pushing myself to the limit every single day to compete with all of you.”
Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed.
Howard Fendrich has been the ’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: /author/howard-fendrich. More tennis: /hub/tennis
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