Andy Murray once teased Rafael Nadal with a cheeky text message after the Spaniard had been dealt a frustrating blow. The two players remain household names, having partly dominated tennis in the 2000s and 2010s alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Murray won three Grand Slam titles, including two at Wimbledon, while Nadal claimed 22 to put him second on the all-time men’s list behind only Djokovic.
Murray and Nadal usually got along behind the scenes, with the Scot taking the chance to playfully mock his Spanish rival last year. Nadal is a huge supporter of Real Madrid and was left frustrated when they were beaten by Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-finals. After the final whistle, he received a shameless text message from Murray that rubbed salt in his wounds.
Nadal revealed the exchange after his farewell ceremony at last year’s French Open, saying in a press conference: “My good friend Andy, we were not in touch for a while.
“The day that Arsenal beat Real Madrid, when the match just finished, after one second, he text me a message, telling me: ‘Hey, Rafa, haven’t spoken to you in a while. Just checking in to make sure you are okay’.
“So honestly, [it] takes me like five seconds to realise what I was reading, because at the beginning, I said: ‘Okay, he’s such a nice guy. He’s asking about how I’m doing, family’.
“After five seconds, I said: ‘This British sense of humour’. By the way, I didn’t text him back when PSG beat Arsenal [in the semi-finals].”
Murray was in attendance for Nadal’s farewell ceremony at Roland Garros, which saw the Spaniard honoured with a permanent plaque on Court Philippe-Chatrier to commemorate his 14 titles.
The retired Brit, who had his own farewell ceremony at Wimbledon the previous summer, said: “I thought they did it really well. I thought the plaque on the side of the court was brilliant. I think he deserved that.
“It was great for me to be out there with those guys again. I hadn’t seen Roger or Rafa for quite a while. Obviously Novak, I have spent some time with him the last few months!
“But I thought they did a great job. I thought he spoke really, really well too considering going through multiple languages. I think at one stage the speech got blown away by the wind.
“I thought he spoke really, really well. I think with those things, it clearly meant a lot to him and he was really happy with it. I thought it was really good.
Murray had a losing 17-7 record against Nadal, including both their meetings at Roland Garros. They never faced each other in a Grand Slam final, though.
