‘Very cold’ - Corretja laments ‘difficult’ Nadal farewell at Davis Cup (2024)

Nadal’s last action in competitive tennis was to represent Spain at the Davis Cup, but Nadal lost to the Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp in the Davis Cup quarter-finals earlier last week, with the Dutch team then triumphing in the doubles decider.

That meant that the veteran Spaniard’s retirement was confirmed without him being on court, with his involvement in the tournament then out of his hands.

The 38-year-old had barely featured in 2024 after problems with a hip injury, and he decided to step back from the sport in the same year as another of the legendary Big Four, Andy Murray.

Nadal was in tears for Roger Federer’s retirement two years earlier, which had been marked with a standing ovation at that year’s Laver Cup.

For the Mallorcan, though, results conspired to produce a much more muted affair, and Corretja told Eurosport that it did not match Nadal’s "epic" reputation.

He explained: "We all felt that it was not an epic moment. There were not very emotional feelings going on.

"It was very difficult because Spain just lost a few minutes before and everything seems to be very cold. It was because it was not just an exhibition. It was a very important tournament for everyone.

"Once Spain lost, it was like now we need to make this recognition to Rafa, but no one was ready for that. Plus, then the images they showed andthe people that were in the videos or whatever, which even if they were stars, they were great. But at some moment, we felt like we were expecting something else on court, some of his ex-colleagues or whatever.

"They were not ready for that, because they were thinking that maybe to do the whole thing on Friday, but they forgot that tennis, you know, you can lose to anyone. And that's what the Netherlands did against Spain.
"It was good because they tried their best and Rafael was quite emotional with the crowd and everyone and everything, but not as deep as we felt. Rafael is always epic, and we didn't feel that epic on his goodbye."

• When do Murray and Djokovic start working together? When is their first tournament?
• Sinner is 'Djokovic 2.0' with 'same qualities but playing faster' - Mouratoglou
• Federer, Djokovic absences lamented as Nadal farewell branded 'shabby' and sad'

Murray shocked the world when he decided to return to tennis as Novak Djokovic’s new coach, meaning his time away from professional tennis has only lasted a few months.

Corretja, however, thinks Nadal is extremely unlikely to follow the same path.

"In my opinion, I see it as impossible. 99.99% impossible. Because in this life you can't say impossible. But I would be very, very surprised. I think he's going to need time to realise what he really wants to do.

"It's a bit different than Andy. I feel like Andy, even if he's got four kids and he's busy at home, maybe he's got less things to do on a daily basis.

"But Rafa, he is living on his, you know, in Manacor, and he's got his academy. I don't really see him moving so much from there. I felt like Andy wanted to maybe feel the experience of still traveling, you know.

"Rafa, I don't really see him as a coach or as a consultant for anyone. I might see him more like a consultant for, let's say, Real Madrid. Something big, something that he could add to the team from time to time, can give them some speeches. I would see it for a short period of time. Three months or six months. But on a daily basis, I don't really see it."

Watch January's Australian Open live and on-demand on discovery+