It is 12:43 a.m., on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, and Rafael Nadal, 38, greets one last time the public at the Malaga Sports Palace, who applaud him wildly, before throwing himself into the darkness of the tunnel locker rooms. This time, it’s there.
The Spanish legend, the extra-terrestrial at the 14 Roland-Garros, the phoenix of Manacor has just definitively drawn the curtain on more than twenty years of a fabulous career. Definitely, but above all prematurely. Spain and the tennis world thought they would celebrate their champion until the weekend and why not a grand finale of the Davis Cup on Sunday against the Italy of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
But the Netherlands spoiled the party badly and precipitated the defeat of the Iberians. A strange atmosphere for a tribute… After the loss of the Alcaraz/Granollers pair in doubles, synonymous with elimination, the Majorcan took his place in the center of the court for a final speech lasting almost fifteen minutes and a tearful farewell. With an aftertaste of unfinished business in this slightly sloppy and far too formal finale.
Convinced of Spanish qualification, Novak Djokovic (currently in his residence in Malaga), Roger Federer and Andy Murray had planned to come and celebrate their rival from Friday, the day of the semi-finals. The emotion would surely have been different, in the vein of the departure of “Roger” in 2022.
“We all would have liked to win, I would have liked to do more but that’s all I had,” apologized the Bull of Manacor, his spine far too pierced with banderillas to be able to win his final single against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp a little earlier in this disastrous day. Thank you all for allowing me to spend my last days here as a professional (…) Nobody likes arriving at that moment. I’m not tired of playing tennis but you have to accept the situation. I did a lot more than I could have imagined…”
The family in the stands and the teammates on the bench have more than moist eyes. Nadal’s throat tightens as he watches archive images accompanied by testimonies on the giant screen. The exercise is certainly agreed but the casting does not deceive. From the newly minted Ballon d’Or Rodri to David Beckham, including the footballers Casillas, Raul or Iniesta, Serena Williams or her ex-comrades from the Big Four (Federer, Djokovic and Murray), everyone insists on values, example and the legacy of the Mallorcan champion.
“We will miss you a lot,” says his captain and friend David Ferrer, propelled to his side as spokesperson for Spanish tennis. There are people we stop remembering at the end of their lives, others we remember forever. You will be remembered forever…”
“I just want to be remembered as a good person”
And we will take care to quickly move on to the epilogue of his existence as a player who inevitably did not live up to two decades of excess and exploits. “Ideal endings are in American films,” Nadal warned on Monday. Well seen.
In a meeting where the emotional and the context necessarily took precedence over the rational, Ferrer had chosen to give a gift to the four-time winner of the competition by starting him for the opening singles. Which ultimately did no one any favors… Despite unfailing courage and self-sacrifice, Nadal logically lacked everything (speed, reactivity, stroke length, vista…) at the end of two twilight years playing the intermittent player of the spectacle when his body gave him permission.
“We went on the pitch, we lived this moment and I tried to do my best, to stay as positive as possible at all times, to play with the right energy,” he explains. But that wasn’t enough…” Everyone forgot (or pretended) that Federer’s long and beautiful road on the circuit ended with a bicycle wheel against the Pole Hurkacz in the quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2001.
There will therefore be so many other images to keep in mind, particularly on the western side of Paris, where Nadal has the unique privilege of having his statue at the entrance to the stadium, so much so that he will have left his mark on Parisian soil. ‘an indelible imprint. With this forever unreal statistic of 112 victories for 4 defeats…
“Of our duels, I will remember Wimbledon 2008”, slips Federer in the video, a fine player and loser in one of the greatest finals in history.
“The numbers or the titles don’t matter,” repeated the unfortunate hero of the evening in front of the 11,000 fans, some of whom had broken their savings plan to afford a ticket. I just want to be remembered as a good person. I was very lucky to experience what I experienced. I went beyond my dreams. I leave with peace and serenity. » In the stands as well as on the posters in town, the “Gracias Rafa” flourish. And thank you again for everything…
