The final clap will have left the 9,700 spectators at the Palacio de deportes in Malaga hungry, and beyond that the little world of orphaned tennis. Tuesday November 19, Rafael Nadal played 1,308e and final match of his professional career. “There is no ideal ending. “Ideal endings generally only happen in American films.” prophesied 154e world player on the eve of opening the ball in the Davis Cup quarter-finals between Spain and the Netherlands. History will probably not remember the name of its gravedigger, without wishing to offend Botic Van de Zandschulp, nor the score (6-4, 6-4). But the farewell scenario for the 38-year-old left-hander was cut short a little too quickly not to leave him with a touch of bitterness.
Also read the story: Article reserved for our subscribers Rafael Nadal, the clay court gladiator, announces his retirement
Read later
“Of course, things didn't go the way I wanted, but I gave everything I had. I am very grateful to have been able to spend my last days as a professional player with my teammates,” commented the local hero, during a tribute ceremony following the decisive doubles won by the Dutch pair.
The public also wanted to believe it, perhaps a little too much. Tuesday evening, Nadal was nothing more than the flickering shadow of the giant he once was. Too slow to exchange, too short in return, too imprecise, too hesitant, too vulnerable. This rectangle 23.77 m long and 8.23 m wide on which the Majorcan genius had exhausted all the theorems of geometry suddenly seemed too big for him. THE “Ra-fa” tumbling down the stands of the Palacio de deportes could not stop the inevitable.
Tribute to the Trocadéro
1,800 km away, on the Place du Trocadéro, its historic equipment supplier listed the statistics of the man with twenty-two Grand Slam titles, including fourteen at Roland-Garros. Like the sad Parisian sky, the king of clay had eyes as red as his tracksuit, caught up from the notes of the Royal March by the shivers, which he had nevertheless tried to keep away. “I'm not here to retire, I'm here to help the team, the emotions will come at the end,” he said on Monday at a press conference in front of an audience of journalists, as the event had not attracted since its new format in 2019.
Nadal lost his first Davis Cup singles match in more than twenty years on Tuesday, when the centuries-old team competition had not yet sold – and lost – its soul. “In a way, it's a good thing that it's my last match. I lost my first singles in the Davis Cup, and the last. The circle is closed,” he quipped after his inaugural defeat.
You have 55.13% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
