Fernando Verdasco has decided to call time on his glittering career, with the Spaniard retiring at the age of 41.
Rafael Nadal has congratulated Verdasco on his career, which has come to an end after his Qatar Open exit.
Verdasco played doubles with Novak Djokovic in Doha, with the pair falling at the quarter-final stage after winning their opener.
Tennis fans have praised Djokovic at the Qatar Open, but the Serbian is also out of the singles event after losing to Matteo Berrettini.
Djokovic has also been wishing Verdasco well for the future, but such warm feelings are unlikely to be shared by their fellow professional Nick Kyrgios.
Nick Kyrgios once fumed at ‘arrogant’ Fernando Verdasco
Kyrgios overcame his differences to play doubles with Djokovic at the Brisbane International earlier this season, but he is unlikely to repair his strained relationship with Verdasco.
Speaking on the No Challenges Remaining podcast back in May 2019, the outspoken Australian said: “Verdasco drives me nuts, man.
“That guy… I don’t even want to talk about it. It gets me so vexed, I’m like angry now that I just hear that name. He’s the most arrogant person ever.
“He doesn’t say hello, he thinks he’s so good, he thinks he’s God’s gift. Dude, your backhand’s pretty average and let’s be honest, you hit a ball over a net. Guys like that, they drive me insane.
“There’s no humility there, there’s no perspective, it’s just like, ‘I’m here, I’m so cool, I’m unbelievable because I hit a ball over the net. Do this for me, do this for me, I won’t say hello to you, I’m too important’. Guys like that. See how angry I’m getting? It kills me. He just rubs me the wrong way.”
Nick Kyrgios’s social media war of words with Fernando Verdasco in 2018
In true Kyrgios fashion, it wasn’t his first tussle with Verdsaco, with the pair having been involved in a heated exchange on social media in 2018.
Verdasco took on another Australian in Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Miami Open in March that year, where the former accused the latter’s father of talking during his serves.
The Spaniard still won the match, but was immediately met with a Tweet from Kyrgios that read: “I hope TK wins this match, Verdasco is the saltiest dude, must be frustrated at his past success against Aussies.”
The jibe came given Verdasco had lost his previous six matches against Australian players, including two against Kyrgios.
| Year | Winner | Tournament | Round | Surface | Score |
| 2016 | Nick Kyrgios | Atlanta | Quarter-final | Outdoor Hard | 64 67(5) 63 |
| 2015 | Nick Kyrgios | ATP Masters 1000 Canada | Round of 64 | Outdoor Hard | 63 46 64 |
Verdasco was quick to reply after Kyrgios then deleted the Tweet, with the Spanish ace writing: “When you have the courage to put a tweet insulting another player you need to have the same to don’t delete it.”
His enemy responded: “I would honestly have told it to Fernando’s face, the reason I deleted my previous tweet was because I didn’t want to cause unwanted attention, but I’m just gonna leave this here. Thanks for blocking me, I’m sure that took a lot of courage x.”
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