The retirement of Rafael Nadal is heartbreaking for Laurent Luyat, who had forged a special bond with the Spanish player.
The next Roland-Garros will necessarily have a special flavor for Laurent Luyat. And not only because he will have to cope without Nelson Monfort, who has been in charge of post-match interviews for over thirty years. The Paris tournament will also be deprived of its absolute master: Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard, who won the Parisian major 14 times, retired on Tuesday after a defeat in the Davis Cup.
Laurent Luyat did not hide his emotion after the announcement of the former world number one's upcoming retirement. “What can I say! If not our emotion. And thank you above all! “,
he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding a red heart which reflected his particular affection for the Majorcan.
Laurent Luyat bluffed by the kindness of Rafael Nadal
“Since 2005, we have seen each other every year: he comes to the terrace every time. For six years, at the end of the final, I have gone down to the court to gather his first impressions after receiving the cup. We know each other well. We kiss each other, he told Le Parisien in the spring of 2023. He is someone who has two sides: a monster of power, physical and mental, on the court, and in life, someone very respectful, simple. »
“I remember one time when he was interviewed in Nelson Monfort’s small studio. He was exhausted. We didn't see him on the air, he gets up, has difficulty walking and still goes to greet the soundman, the cameraman… Any other player, and we would understand it, would have left immediately to do his care”, he continued.
Before Rafael Nadal's last match at Roland Garros against Alexander Zverev, Laurent Luyat had underlined the bond he had been able to forge with the Parisian public after a complicated start.
“What's crazy is that when you win a lot of Roland-Garros (14, editor's note), at one point the public got fed up with him because he won all the time. But at the end, the public realized his exceptional mentality. It's not just the physique, the monster on the court, it's also a fabulous mentality. He won back everyone's hearts. »
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