Watch: Rafael Nadal brought to tears by surprise during French Open farewell ceremony

A plaque displaying Nadal’s footprint was also unveiled on the court, where it will remain. Nadal said he initially thought it was only for the 2025 tournament.

“When I saw it, I thought it would only be for this year. When they told me it would be forever, I can’t describe my emotions,” Nadal said. “It’s a great honor. I was thrilled to know it would be present on the most important court of my career.”

Nadal, winner of 22 grand slams overall, delivered a speech in English, French and his native Spanish. He spoke about how much it meant to him to have Federer, Murray and Djokovic in attendance.

“After all these years fighting for everything it’s unbelievable how the time changes perspective of everything. 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. At the end, now, it’s all about being happy about everything that we achieved. At the end, all of us achieved our dreams. We became tennis players. Played in the most important stages of our careers. I think we built amazing rivalries but at the same time in a good way. We showed the world that we can fight as hard as possible, but being good colleagues and respect each other very well.”

Nadal’s career record at the French Open was 112-4. He reached the finals 14 times and never lost when going that deep into the tournament.

Nadal, who will turn 39 next month, played his final competitive match last November before retiring.