MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal highlighted the role of former basketball player Pau Gasol as a “pioneer” and “one of the greatest historical references in Spanish sport”, confessing that it is “incredible that the Los Angeles Lakers retire the shirt” of the former center of the angelina franchise between 2008 and 2014.
“For the Lakers to retire Pau’s (Gasol) jersey is incredible. For the most emblematic team in the NBA to retire the jersey of someone who is not American, who is Spanish, makes me very excited. It is a day of celebration, it is to be proud of everything he has achieved”, said the Spaniard in statements to his press team collected by Europa Press.
This recognition of the team with which he won two rings (2009 and 2010), together with Kobe Bryant, for Nadal, “shows what” the Catalan “has meant in the most important league in the world.” “Things like this seemed very distant a few years ago,” he acknowledged, before putting the importance of him off the field ahead of the medals won by Gasol.
“He is a very good friend, he is a very good example of all the values of sport. Also how he has gotten there, treating everyone well, with respect, being a good example for young people”, he praised. “He is one of the greatest historical references in our sport for many reasons. His titles with the national team, in the NBA… It makes him very special that he has been a pioneer in achieving things that had never been achieved before” he stressed.
Nadal emphasized that Pau Gasol managed, “in a sport in which the Americans have been the great dominators”, to bring Spanish basketball “very close to that level”. “And he has marked the way for many others, thanks to what he has achieved before. He has done something that no one had ever done before in Spanish sport,” he reiterated.
“I have many unforgettable memories of watching Pau matches. I am a good follower of sport in general, and of basketball as well. I have a thousand memories of Pau with the national team, and I have also been lucky enough to experience some of them live and have shared them with him. I have been lucky enough to experience Pau’s career up close, that makes it more special”, concluded the tennis player.