Rafael Nadal is retiring: “You were and still are the greatest inspiration” – Iga Swiatek warmly pays tribute to him

Iga Swiatek called Rafael Nadal her “biggest inspiration” and “a great person off the court” after announcing his retirement.

She has since won three more times at Roland-Garros and has become an all-conquering force on clay, just as Nadal was on his favorite surface for a much longer period.

In a tribute to Nadal on social media, Swiatek said: “You were and still are the greatest inspiration I have ever had in tennis and the reason why I was sometimes extra motivated and kept pushing myself.”

“Thank you very much for that and thank you for being such a great person off the pitch. Her humility is something you don’t see that often when you see other athletes succeeding.”

“You are the one who has always been honest with yourself and true to yourself. Thank you for being a really good person.”

“I hope that you will enjoy the other part of your life and hopefully another career because now the sky is the limit for you and I hope that you will spend a lot of time with your loved ones and your family.”

Sabalenka also described Nadal as an “inspiration to everyone” after watching his video announcing his retirement.

“He is an inspiration to all of us, to the next generation, to current players – he is a legend.”

“As he actually said there, everything has a beginning and an end. We will all be there. I'm really happy with what he was able to achieve. He was an inspiration to everyone. He is a hard worker. He I definitely had so much love for this sport.

“Of course I’m a fan of his. I know we're technically like colleagues, but I'm a fan. How he treated me as a fan is something I remember better than his wins, more than the things he did. “ I want my legacy to be like this.

“You can win so many trophies and everything, but people remember who you are and how you made them feel. That's something I always try to remind myself of when I'm interacting with fans or talking to anyone, to make a good impression because I know how far that goes.

“I just felt like he was going to do things, he did his best.”