{"id":13457,"date":"2024-05-01T06:50:43","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T06:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.websitemodel.co.in\/?p=13457"},"modified":"2024-05-01T07:05:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T07:05:43","slug":"rafael-nadal-bids-emotional-farewell-to-madrid-open-after-losing-to-jiri-lehecka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/2024\/05\/01\/rafael-nadal-bids-emotional-farewell-to-madrid-open-after-losing-to-jiri-lehecka\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal bids emotional farewell to Madrid Open after losing to Jiri Lehecka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rafael Nadal bade an emotional farewell to the Madrid Open on Tuesday after crashing out in the fourth round at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 37-year-old 22-time Grand Slam singles champion\u2014winner of a record five Madrid Open titles\u2014bowed out 7-5, 6-4 to the 30th-seeded Czech Lehecka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In just over two hours, a feisty Lehecka thwarted Nadal&#8217;s hopes of reaching his 100th Masters 1000 quarterfinal after a fairytale run in only his second tournament since January as the Spaniard struggled with injury. Nadal had said he expects to retire after the 2024 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As chants of &#8220;Rafa, Rafa, Rafa&#8221; echoed around, the five-time champion in Madrid made a farewell speech: &#8220;I&#8217;m happy. It was a very special week for me, very positive in every way. I was able to play again on a court that has given me a lot, also on an emotional level.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rafa Nadal waves goodbye to the crowd in Madrid for the very last time. <br><br>Listen to that noise. <br><br>That\u2019s the sound of 13,000 people who\u2019ve been inspired &amp; moved by what this man has given to the sport for so many years. <br><br>A king leaving his kingdom. \ud83d\udc51\ud83e\udd79<br> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eK5ZxseVzq\">pic.twitter.com\/eK5ZxseVzq<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheTennisLetter\/status\/1785437166308565213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 30, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It has been unforgettable, and I can only say &#8216;thank you&#8217;. It has been an incredible journey. It&#8217;s very difficult, but life and my body have been sending signals to me for a long time. &#8220;I have been fortunate to turn my passion into my job. I am privileged,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>It\u2019s a difficult day, but my body is giving me a signal that I should stop,&#8221; the 37-year-old said after his defeat to Jiri Lehecka at the Mutua Madrid Open. \u201cMy dream was to finish here on court<\/p><cite>Rafael Nadal<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing. For me, sharing the court with such a legendary player is a dream come true. I always wished to have this happen. I&#8217;m very grateful to achieve such a big moment,&#8221; Lehecka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The organisers honoured him with a trophy and unfurled banners, paying tribute to his five Madrid titles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rafael Nadal bade an emotional farewell to the Madrid Open on Tuesday after crashing out in the fourth round at the Madrid Open. The 37-year-old 22-time Grand Slam singles champion\u2014winner of a record five Madrid Open titles\u2014bowed out 7-5, 6-4 to the 30th-seeded Czech Lehecka. In just over two hours, a feisty Lehecka thwarted Nadal&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-13457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13457"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13465,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13457\/revisions\/13465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deccandawn.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}