There will be some emptiness once Federer, Nadal, Djokovic retire - Lopez
The Madrid Open Tournament Director Feliciano Lopez held a conference call before the start of the event to speak about the 2019 edition of the event that featured, for the first time since 2014, the 'Big Three'. "We have all the best players on the rankings and especially with Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer over a week, it does not happen that often. I want to remark it and that people are aware of it. Nowadays only a few tournaments can have them. When they retire there will be some emptiness. The rivalry between the three made this era the most impressive one we have ever lived. That will stay in history," said Lopez, who replaced the Spanish Legend Manolo Santana as a tournament director. "I was able to know Manolo as a kid. He got interested to my career and he called my father when I started in order to make me head into the right direction. It helped me on the first year of the event giving me a wild card. There I played the great match with Andre Agassi, that made me see I could play against the big guys.i will forever be grateful because Manolo can make you learn a lot of things."
On David Ferrer's retirement, Lopez concluded: "David was a very special friend of mine during my whole sports life. Besides the nice opportunity that he decided to leave in our tournament, his retirement makes me sad because we lived a lot of things together. It's a special tournament for him and me. For a tennis fan it's sad that Ferrer retires."
Djokovic won the Madrid Open beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Wkch7x
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