French Open organisers planning 'big tribute' to Rafael Nadal

PARIS: French Open organisers are preparing to honour Rafael Nadal with a major tribute at this year's tournament, won by the Spaniard a record 14 times before his retirement last year.

"There's bound to be something, a very big tribute" to Nadal, the head of the French tennis federation Gilles Moretton told Europe 1 radio.

"We were ready last year and he wasn't ready, he was still a player."

The 22-time Grand Slam champion received a send-off after the final match of his career at the Davis Cup in Malaga in November, but Moretton said "the tribute was not, in my opinion, what it should have been".

He said he had gone to visit Nadal at his home in December along with Roland Garros tournament director Amelie Mauresmo to discuss plans for the tribute at the French Open, which runs from May 25 to June 8.