What does defeat taste like? would be asked more than once Rafael Nadal, in those times when everything was victory, playing the best tennis in the world, crushing rivals, those times when he became king of Roland Garros, when he made the sand track his own, when he made people tremble Roger Federer, his rival and friend, when he fought battles with Novak Djokovic his most fearsome adversary, when defeat was unknown because it was an eventuality. But one day, the passage of time took its toll and Nadal’s time came to taste a definitive defeat. The one about retirement.
According to the criteria of
40-30 and there was thunderous silence. A general nervousness. Nadal was down 6-4 in the first set and 5-4 in the second. He gave some blows that no longer aroused applause, but rather nostalgia. Nadal was trying hard not to lose, not to end his career with a defeat. It was last Tuesday. Rafa challenged Van de Zandschulp from Netherlands in the Spanish series of quarterfinals of the Davis Cup. It wasn’t just any match, it could be Nadal’s last.
Rafael Nadal leaves tennis, but leaves an indelible mark for his triumphs
“Don’t lose, don’t lose,” his fans prayed in that last ball. “I don’t want to lose, not yet,” Surely Rafa thought, and yet, the pressure was from his rival: that of wanting to win, but knowing that winning meant pushing one of the greatest athletes in history off the court. Match point.
Nadal balances on his knees. The ball comes, he looks at it, he goes, one responds, the second one couldn’t. The ball, fragile, dead, remained halfway. A sad ball. It was the end of a legendary career, a career of 22 Grand Slam titles, 14 of them in his special arena, in Roland Garros, 2 at Wimbledon, 2 in Australia, 4 at the US Open. 92 ATP titles. 209 weeks as number one in the world rankings…
After the last defeat, Nadal was sincere. He had anticipated that this would be his last competition. He lost and assumed it. Then, he uttered accurate words: “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,” he said, holding back not only his tears but his soul so that the desire to continue playing would not escape him in a sigh. “No, soul, the game is over.”
The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal against the Dutch Botic Van de Zandschulp during the first match of the quarterfinals between the teams of Spain and the Netherlands, this Tuesday at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace in Málaga (Andalusia). EFE/ Jorge Zapata
Photo:
Although he leaves in defeat, Nadal does not leave the image of an ordinary athlete, Nadal was a winning machine. A machine that, as such, only went out with the rust of time and the threat of injuries. It was a physical marvel, it was not a conventional organism. It was speed and acceleration on his racket, with a punch that made him indestructible, almost invincible.
We must remember him like this, in his fullness, in one of his dynamite serves: his muscles contract, sweat runs down his forehead, his breath flows like a cyclone in each puff propelled by his lungs, while he throws the ball in the air and prepares his left bazooka, his gaze burns, defiant, and then comes the impact, the sound of the racket with the ball, Nadal’s moan that drowns out any murmur on the court.
All the witnesses look on, heads moving from right to left to capture the speed of that flaming ball.and then Nadal raises his arm and roars like a lion when he wins, as if he were shouting a goal – because before being a tennis player he wanted to be a footballer –, and so the years of that supernatural tennis player went by, who like a moving statue took root in that soil, preferably sandy. Nadal prepared with formidable discipline and forged that enormous physique.
He is the spitting image before the injuries devoured him, because his body seemed immune on the outside, but was cracking on the inside. Sebastian Festin his book Thank you, the legacy of Rafael Nadal, says that tendonitis in his knees and left foot (affected by Müller-Weissle syndrome) caused him the biggest problems of his career.
Rafael Nadal and injuries: a life of great suffering, but at the same time of courage
In 2022, the year of his last Roland Garros title – Fest relates – they asked him if he preferred to win again or have a new foot: “Have a new foot,” he said, without hesitation. Nadal faced all of this, winning even with pain, until he couldn’t take it anymore and at 38 years old, he said he was leaving.
Fest, in dialogue with EL TIEMPO, summarizes Nadal’s legacy. “The legacy is important in several ways: one is obvious, the sporting one, practically no one achieved what he did in number of Grand Slam titles, 22, only 24 for Djokovic. The length of his career, 21 years, is not normal, and 19 years winning at a very high level. Nobody did and nobody will do what he did at Roland Garros or in any other Grand Slam. 15 or 20 years ago the prospect of winning 14 Grand Slams, which (Pete) Sampras did, was ‘wow’, a mark for all time, and it turns out that this boy wins 14 in the same tournament, no one achieved that nor will anyone.”
Fest reveals that he called his book Thank You, because he had never seen another athlete thank his collaborators, the press, the fans, everyone like him… And that is his other legacy. “It is authenticity, consistency and humility for someone who was not one of the greatest tennis players, but one of the greatest athletes of all time,” he adds.
Final point. 6-4 6-4. Nadal closes his career in defeat, you know what it tastes like, it tastes bitter, but a defeat after so much victory is just a bite. His legend is what tastes like eternal glory.
Pedro Romero
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@PabloRomeroET
