French Tennis Federation President Gilles Moretton known as it “a shame” that some followers selected to promote the commemorative T-shirts handed out throughout Rafael Nadal’s tribute at Roland Garros on-line.
At Sunday’s ceremony on Court Philippe Chatrier celebrating Nadal’s legendary profession, all 15,000 attendees obtained free T-shirts emblazoned with the phrases “Merci, Rafa.”
The shirts, in various colours, collectively spelled out “14 RG, Rafa,” honoring Nadal’s file 14 French Open titles.
The easy orange or white T-shirts, which additionally included the date “25/05/2025,” have been listed on the market on web sites together with Vinted and Leboncoin for costs starting from 150 euros ($170) to 500 euros ($569).
“What do you want me to say, that we shouldn’t have made them?” Moretton mentioned at a press convention Monday.
“Some people are trying to make money out of it, with the ‘Merci Rafa,’ the ‘Thank You Rafa.'”
“It’s a bit of a shame, but we did not think of getting the T-shirts back at the end of the ceremony; that wouldn’t have been right.”
“I really appreciated the fact that about 98% of people wore the T-shirts to pay tribute to Rafa.”
“It is because of the uniqueness of Roland Garros, something that hasn’t been seen anywhere else, and this is precisely what has led people to want to buy these shirts at staggering prices.”
Nadal fought again tears throughout the emotional ceremony and was joined on courtroom by previous rivals Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Source: www.dailysabah.com