Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Nadal’s career is all over, but his legend will remain forever. The Spaniard said goodbye in Malaga after two decades of sporting exploits, with a practically indescribable track record and the special seal in his way of winning and conquering so many trophies, but also losing, as happened in his last match as a professional tennis player.
«I am retiring from professional tennis but I am still here, I hope to be a good ambassador for tennis. It’s what I’ve tried my whole life, to strive to be better and achieve goals. I have tried to do it with respect and humility, and value all the good things that have happened to me. I have tried to be a good person, I hope you have perceived it that way,” he assured the Martín Carpena audience, in a simple but heartfelt act of tribute after Spain’s unexpected knockout in the Davis Cup.
«I leave this world of professional tennis feeling that I have found many friends along the way, so many people to thank for many things, tournaments… It is difficult to remember everyone. I leave with the peace of mind that I have left a legacy as I truly feel, not only sporting, but also personal. I understand that the affection I receive would not be the same if it were only for what is on the track,” he analyzed very correctly, since his legend as an athlete goes far beyond the tracks and connects with the world of personal values.
A host of legends of tennis in particular and of sport in general paraded through the Martín Carpena screens to accompany Nadal on his last night as a professional. Federer, Djokovic and Murray, rivals on the court who expanded his legend, and also Iniesta, Casillas, Rodri, Beckham, Serena Williams and Conchita Martínez had words of affection for the Balearic, deeply moved, as were his father, his wife and his sister, all of them in the stands of Martín Carpena.
«I have to thank a lot of people. I will start with those who are here today. Thanks to all of you, the public. It’s 20 years, good bad. I have been able to live with all of you, I want to generalize my gratitude to all of Spain and the world in general. “I have felt super lucky to feel so much affection for everyone, especially in Spain,” he said in a nod to those Spanish fans who adore him. Subsequently, he also had words of gratitude to the press, the organizers and especially, it could not be otherwise, to his people, those closest to him, those who have accompanied him in these two dizzying decades and have given him a unique personality.
The passage of time, that inexorable factor even for the greatest, has caused the goodbye of the greatest Spanish athlete of all time. «My body has told me that it doesn’t want to play tennis anymore and I have to accept it. I am privileged. I have been able to make my hobby my profession. I’m lucky. My family, my team, my friends. I am a person who believes in continuity, I believe in keeping the people you love and who make your life better. I have kept my family close. Without you this would not have been possible,” he concluded. The tennis player retires, but his legend remains.
