Rafael Nadal celebrates his farewell at the Davis Cup finals in Malaga. The Mallorcan couldn’t have imagined a more fitting location for the last tournament of his career.
As the penultimate participant in the press conference before the start of the Davis Cup finals, Rafael Nadal came into the enormous ballroom of the team hotel Higueron Malaga. Because of the huge media interest, the organizers moved the last big press round of Nadal’s career away from the media room in the tennis arena and to the gates of Malaga.
After all, everything is a little bigger in the Spanish coastal town these days. The organizers of the Davis Cup have made adjustments everywhere since it became clear that Rafael Nadal would end his career here. One last time Nadal is upsetting the tennis world, one last time he is outshining a sport that he has increasingly outgrown over time.
Sport becomes a minor matter
From the moment “Rafa” announced that he would be saying goodbye to the Davis Cup, it was clear that this year’s edition would only look for its winner in a supporting role. He is too big in tennis, an icon in his homeland. Nadal is possibly the best individual athlete that this country, which is certainly not poor in sporting personalities, has to offer. He is one of the three most successful tennis players in history. Countless professionals of today’s generation say they have him as a great role model.
Although expected by many, the news of Nadal’s retirement sent shockwaves through tennis. The second of three players who have been so dominant in recent decades would ride into the sunset of his sporting career. Of the big three, only Novak Djokovic will enter the world’s center courts in 2025, after the Swiss Roger Federer had already retired in 2022.
The circle closes
It is fitting that Nadal is about to end his career at the Davis Cup. The week in Malaga puts a bracket around the 38-year-old’s career in an almost kitschy manner. One of the first pictures, which probably does not come from the Nadal family’s private photo collection, shows the 14-year-old Nadal standing next to Alex Corretja as a flag bearer with the Spanish flag in his hand at the 2000 Davis Cup final. At that time, Nadal was not yet part of the team; the future world star looked very shy.
But three and a half years later, in February 2004, Nadal, at the tender age of 17, was there when the Spanish team defeated the Czech Republic. Less than ten months later, the rocket launch into this extraordinary career was perfect. Team captain Jordi Arrese didn’t want to rely on the experienced Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2004 final against the USA.
Instead, he gave the 17-year-old Nadal the task of playing against Andy Roddick, who was number 2 in the world rankings at the time. Just a few weeks earlier, Roddick had given the aspiring Mallorcan a lesson at the US Open. But this time everything was different. Nadal won in four sets and was suddenly known to the world.
Dominance on clay
It was this carefree attitude, combined with what at the time was still an extraordinary physique and the ability to concentrate on every single rally, that quickly made Nadal not only one of the youngest Davis Cup winners, but also the clay dominator par excellence. In the last two decades, Nadal has won the French Open in Paris a total of 14 times.
There, on the Center Court with its huge dimensions, where Nadal could always wait enormously far behind the baseline for his opponents’ serves, giving himself more time, where the ball bounced particularly high in the early summer temperatures and thus his shots gave even more power, Nadal was almost unbeatable for years. The fact that the Swede Robin Söderling managed to overthrow the Regent for the first time in 2009 after four French Open victories in a row is one of the greatest sensations in tennis history. Without this victory, Federer might never have won his only title in Paris.
2009: Robin Söderling (r.) defeated Rafael Nadal
Nadal against Federer
In the beginning the rivalry between the two was great. Here the much-loved Federer, revered for his game, there the beefy and up-and-coming Nadal. It took the audience years to make peace with Nadal. In the round of 16 of the 2005 French Open he played against Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean. The French crowd, generally not squeamish when it comes to intimidating their compatriots’ opponents, booed Nadal.
Even in the years that followed, he was tolerated rather than loved. But eventually the Paris audience got used to Nadal, who was so serious on the court. They noticed that a special player was leaving his mark on “their” tournament.
Rafael Nadal wins the French Open in 2006
Rituals, muscle shirt, unpretentious
There are many stories about Rafael Nadal. His rituals before every serve, the muscle shirt he wore at the beginning of his career, the “pirate pants.” His behavior on the pitch. Never during his career did he end up destroying a racket. A fact that not even the gentleman Roger Federer can claim.
The Spaniard rarely allowed himself to be disturbed. Players like Nick Kyrgios, who were far from blessed with Nadal’s success, briefly managed to annoy him. But Nadal remained largely the same. Although he has grown up over the years, his demeanor remains unpretentious.
The body sends signals
Because now, at the last big press conference, Nadal gives information about what concerns him in his usual quiet voice and precisely chosen words. Nadal says he is enjoying the week and thinks it would be great to play for a major title with his colleagues and competitors one last time. But his body told him that now was the right time to stop.
“I could have played a year longer, but why? To say goodbye to every single tournament? I don’t have the ego for that,” says Nadal. The Davis Cup 2024 will be Rafael Nadal’s last appearance on a tennis court. He will no longer be on the sidelines, as he was as a standard bearer in 2000. No, the entire tennis world will revolve around one person, him, Rafael Nadal.
