Rafael Nadal won 14 championships at the French Open, the most at any Grand Slam tournament by a man or woman and cemented his place as one of the greatest of the game.
It helped the Spanish maestro craft a legacy that will hold him as one of the all-time greats of the game. However, the 38-year-old Nadal finally retired in 2024 after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup. He had been plagued by injury issues for two seasons, which limited him to competing only sparingly.But now the King of Mallorca will be back at the Roland Garros. Not as a player but as a voice-over artist in the tournament’s official teaser trailer.”Only where love is written in capital letters, only the clay where champions fight, only the glide, the power, only the endurance until the night, only where tennis and everyone rhyme, only where hats fit all heads, only where the clay marks passion in red, only where rituals leave a trace, only a stage for courage and fire, only here where all dreams transpire, only at Roland-Garros,” Nadal says in his narration.Talking about honoring Nadal at the French Open, French Open director Amélie Mauresmo said: “Rafa has left his mark on the history of the French Open in so many ways, that’s why a tribute ceremony will be held in his honor. We want the tribute to be special, exceptional. We want it to be a surprise for everyone.””We wanted to do the tribute last year, to be transparent, but he refused at the time,” Mauresmo added. “He wasn’t sure that it was his last Roland Garros. Now that he is retired, he is happy to receive it.”