Rafael Nadal told his fellow members of the Big Four: “All of us achieved our dreams” at an emotional ceremony for the Spanish superstar at the French Open. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray walked out into Court Philippe-Chatrier to huge applause during an emotional farewell.

Nadal, who won the title here 14 times, played for the final time here last year before his retirement in November. He had already broken down in tears before his three fellow tennis superstars walked out to more huge applause.

Nadal told them: “After all these years fighting for everything, it is incredible how times change. And the perspective of things.

“All these nerves, pressure, strange things that we feel as rivals are completely different at the end of your career. All of us achieved our dreams. We had amazing rivalries but in a good way. We fought as hard as possible but in a good way and we respected each other.

“You gave me a hard time on court but I always enjoyed pushing myself to the limit to compete with you. At the end of the day, tennis is just a game. What that means for me is that all of you are here, it is a great message to the world. We can be good friends even if we had the best rivalries on the court

“I hope we will continue doing positive things for our sport. Thank you very much for everything and all the very best.”

Tournament organisers then unveiled a special plaque on the court with his name, footprint and the No.14. He won an incredible 112 out of his 116 matches here and no other player has ever been more closely connected to a Grand Slam event.

Before the first French Open without Nadal since 2004, his heir apparent and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz were among the crowd. He finished the 45-minute ceremony with a lap of honour.

Tournament organisers had given orange-clay coloured shirts to most of the crowd with some fans in white T-shirts spelling out: “Rafa” with two hearts on one side of the 15,225-capacity Court Philippe-Chatrier and “14 RG” on the other.

There were Mexican waves and chants of “Rafa, Rafa” before he walked out into his favourite arena to a rockstar reception.

There was a video montage charting his journey from a long-haired teenage matador with the cut-off shirt to the slightly balding 38-year-old in a sharp black suit.

In Spanish, he thanked his two grandmothers, his coach Toni, his wife Mary and his parents in the royal box. There were 90 of his friends and family here.

And then in French he told the crowd: “Merci la France. Merci Paris. You gave me so many emotions during moments I could never have imagined. It is fantastic to feel loved and appreciated in this place.

“You made me feel like one more Frenchman here. I will not be able to play here again but my memory will always be linked to this place and the people. Thank you.”