This retirement was, dare I say it--...a bit too humble? Nothing to blame from Rafa's side, he is as he always is, very generous and dedicated to tennis and the Spanish team, he feels lucky just being able to retire on court with his teammates and as he mentioned many times in the presser, he wants the focus to be on the spanish team and not on him.
This is such an amazing display of selflessness, as usual, but it might've undermined his last chance to enjoy time on court. Perhaps it was his wish not to have any mega farewell at all, but he insisted on focusing on the team so much that he might not have been able to fully claim his retirement night as his, the way so many athletes who retire on singles might, and even the way Federer did, by doing it in an exhibition and allowing everyone to zoom in on him without anything major at stake.
Maybe nobody anticipated Spain to lose in the first round? It could also be that ITF is not in on the usual mega retirement party thing ATP is keen on. My guess is some players might not even have had the chance to arrive yet (Novak explicitly said he'd come) because even Andy had bigger farewells on his SECOND retirement ceremony in wimbledon and Fed and Novak tried so hard to be there. Players are generally not involved at all in their own retirement celebrations - so it's a bit of a shame that the organiser took Rafa's humbleness too literally and not churn out a better ending for one of the best athletes of the sport.
This whole retirement saga has been quite chaotic and disatisfying. I guess it does make sense, Rafa is a person who embraces practicality and doesn't believe in perfect/ideal things. Federer, as much as he wants to deny it, did plan his sendoff perfectly. It's the ongoing contrast between the two, but even at the end of their career they stayed true to themselves.
The plus side tho is he did get to retire in Spain, with his Spanish teammates, speaking Spanish, which is a very fitting ending for someone who loves his country wholeheartedly and has always felt proudest playing for spain.
