An extraordinary player and undisputed king of clay, “Rafa” will bow out at the end of the Davis Cup, the final stages of which will be played this week in Malaga. On Tuesday, November 19, the Spanish media announced he was starting for his team's first singles match against the Netherlands.
In the imposing “Picasso 2” lounge of the Higueron hotel, about twenty kilometers south of Malaga, the Spanish delegation showed up on Monday, big smiles on their faces. There were six of them, on the eve of the start of the Davis Cup quarter-finals, facing an audience of cameras and cameras. But in the eyes of journalists, it's as if there was only one: only Rafael Nadal counted. Even Carlos Alcaraz, four Grand Slams under his belt at just 21 years old, was confined to the role of spectator, listening to his elder answer all the questions and evoke with nostalgia what he will miss in a few days: the competition, the adrenaline when entering the court, the fans, the pressure.
While Spain faces the Netherlands this Tuesday, November 19 from 5 p.m. in Malaga, the vagueness has long been maintained. The approximately 500 journalists who were accredited for the event – unheard of in ten years – showed up in Andalusia on Monday with a bunch of questions and left the Higueron hotel with very few answers. David Ferrer, the Spanish captain, refused to say whether or not he would field Rafael Nadal, whether in singles or doubles, even if no one really imagined him acting as a luxury cheerleader. The man with 22 Grand Slam titles should finally be lined up in the singles against Botic van de Zandschulp (80th in the world), according to the Spanish sports daily Mark.
For followers, it is also difficult to know which Rafael Nadal they will see on the court. The time is long gone when the ogre of Manacor swallowed everything in its path. The Spaniard has not played in an official match since July 29 and a rout (6-1; 6-4) distributed by Novak Djokovic at the Olympic Games, on the Philippe-Chatrier court which has seen him triumph so many times . As the match approaches, there is ultimately only one certainty: Sunday evening at the latest and the Davis Cup final, “Rafa” will leave professional tennis for good. He will thus draw a line under more than two decades of one of the most beautiful careers the circuit has known.
“Celebrating your career and legacy”
In Malaga, the Majorcan jubilee took precedence over the competition itself. His face is displayed everywhere in the city, from the airport gates to the metro stations, and especially very large on the athletics stadium opposite the Palacio de Deportes Martín Carpena which hosts the final stages of the Davis Cup. Since he announced in mid-October that the competition would be his last, everyone has been fighting to occupy one of the 9,700 seats in the arena during Spain's matches. On resale, tickets are sometimes offered for four or five figure sums. In the stands, we announce the presence of the elite of the tennis world on Tuesday. Starting with that of his lifelong rivals, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who would not miss the Spaniard's latest for anything in the world and his tics in spades – slips-shoulders-hair-ears-nose on every serve, bottles aligned militarily next to his bench, among others.
Tuesday morning on his social networks, the Swiss shared a long message addressed to “Rafa” in which he evokes their rivalry, their friendship and their mutual admiration too. He also talks about these tears that they shared during the Laver Cup, in 2022, at the time of Federer's retirement, this time. Others will probably sink this Tuesday, or later in the week if Spain overcomes the (far from insurmountable) obstacle of the Netherlands. The Davis Cup director has already promised to do “something very special for him” and of “celebrate your career and legacy”.
Early retirement
If this week marks the end of Rafael Nadal's career, the Spaniard has long since entered a sort of early retirement. For the last two years, the left-hander has been living (very) part-time on the circuit, the fault of a body that gives up end by end, caught up by two decades spent at a frantic pace scouring the courts all over the world. Since his miracle victory at Roland-Garros in 2022, his fourteenth, gleaned thanks to a foot shot with infiltrations, then an abandonment a month later in the semi-final of Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal has done almost nothing.
Between 2023 and 2024, he only took part in eight small tournaments (and two highly paid exhibitions in Saudi Arabia and the United States), for a total of only 23 official matches. In comparison, over the same period, Novak Djokovic, although not the freshest physically, played more than 110, Carlos Alcaraz 140 and Jannik Sinner 160. Despite the evidence – a body that no longer keeps up and a declining level – Rafael Nadal had refused in recent months to say stop. Porte d'Auteuil at the end of May, after a defeat in the first round against Alexander Zverev, he refused to have anyone pay tribute to him, assuring “not to be 100% sure” that his 19th Roland-Garros was his last. The public had no illusions, arriving at each of the Spaniard's training sessions the week before his matches like one visiting a loved one one last time at the end of their life.
“I wanted to give myself a chanceRafael Nadal explained Monday afternoon, calmly, to journalists. I know that I have done everything I can and that my time has come, and I accept it as such, without drama. I will leave the professional circuit with the calm and personal satisfaction of having given the best of myself at every moment.”
