We thought this moment would never come, but it has. Rafa has left as he arrived: being humble and hoping that we remember him not as one of the tennis players with the best honors in history, but “as a good person.” On the day of his farewell, after having lost his match against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, but still not knowing if Spain would still be alive in the Davis Cup, Nadal was sincere: if I were Ferrer, “I wouldn’t put myself in the next match.” . Given my level, he wouldn’t choose me.” An athlete said it with 92 titles behind his back the one we had seen crying hours before listening to the Spanish anthem for the last time.
We kept getting older and we thought that Rafa didn’t, that he was immortal despite the setbacks, despite the injuries, because he always found a new way to change his way of playing and keep winning, but time is relentless, especially with elite athletes. In 2023 he retired for a year, after difficult months, ready to return because, he assured, “I didn’t deserve to end up like this”, and he returned, but nothing was the same: He wanted to continue, because he loves to play, he loves tennis, but his body has said enough.. We have been happy, and so has he, but what we do not know, because we have not seen it, is all the sacrifice that his career has meant for him, all the suffering that he has suffered and that only his closest circle has witnessed.
David Ferrer told him in his farewell that his name will be remembered “eternally”. And it will be, but not only because of his gigantic record, but also because of the happiness that he has been able to give throughout his career to fans around the world. Watching Nadal play guaranteed that he was not going to give up until the last point of the last set and, if not, tell that to Daniil Medvedev, who came back two sets at the Australian Open two years ago after almost five and a half hours of play, in one of their most epic triumphs.
His duels with Roger Federertheir friendship beyond the track, and the way in which they forced each other to improve themselves in order to beat the other. Both have been the living example of clean sport and healthy rivalry. Proof of this are the tears of both at the Swiss tennis player’s farewell. Federer wrote him a goodbye letter on Tuesday in which he admitted that Nadal beat him more times than he managed to beat him, and that his biggest fear now is that his children will return from the Nadal Academy “playing left-handed” (like Balearic).
Now, for Rafa, comes another of his most difficult challenges, the same one that many athletes face when they leave the tennis court, the soccer field or the basketball court: finding another purpose in his life, far from glory, of the applause, of the ovations, of the titles… But if Nadal has taught us anything in his career, it is that he will fight until the end, no matter what he does. In On the Philippe Chatrier court at Roland Garros it is written: “Victory belongs to the tenacious”, and Rafa is. It will triumph again, although in a different way, for sure, and although unfortunately we no longer see it.
