Tennis great Mats Wilander is fearful that Rafael Nadal may not get the kind of emotional retirement send-off enjoyed by Roger Federer.
Federer was the centre of attention at the Laver Cup in 2022, having announced his intention to retire in the lead-up to the tournament.
Nadal, meanwhile, is attempting to put together a farewell season after recovering from a year-long injury lay-off. But a fresh issue recently saw him withdraw from the Australian Open.
“We want him to be able to say farewell, of course,” Wilander told Eurosport. “I’m not really sure what that farewell is supposed to look like.
“Obviously, we had maybe one of the greatest farewells ever with Roger Federer at the Laver Cup in the O2 Arena. It wasn’t unexpected that he was eventually going to say farewell but it wasn’t a very serious day of tennis.
“Maybe we won’t get the same farewell. For me, all I really want to see from Rafa Nadal is that he says farewell when he wants to say farewell, not when he’s forced to say farewell, and I think at the moment the injury world is not being very kind.”
