"I just want to be remembered as a good person and a kid that followed his dream and achieved more than what he ever dreamed," said a man whose career resume forced the announcer to take his own sweet time to go through at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga, Spain on Monday, November 19 as a legendary sporting career came to an end. Rafael Nadal bid adieu to the sport having announced that Davis Cup will be his last on tour after having had enough with injuries.
It was an emotional speech understandably as Nadal depended upon pauses and little sighs to work through his final words on the court, that too in English amid deafening cheers of 'Rafa, Rafa!!" Nadal acknowledged the love from the crowd and gathered himself to say what he had to but it was visible that the competitive part of him was disappointed not to go further than the quarter-finals at the Davis Cup.
Nadal lost his fixture to Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4 rather comprehensively but there was hope with Spain's new emerging tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz still to play a singles and a doubles clash. Alcaraz expectedly brought the scoreline to level with a hard-fought 7-6, 6-3 victory against Tallon Griekspoor. However, the duo of Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers lost in the decisive doubles fixture to the pair of Wesley Koolhof and Van de Zandschulp 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
"I did it for Rafa," Alcaraz said after the match.
Nadal, who missed the US Open and the Laver Cup due to his injury blamed the 'cocktail of injuries' as his reason for finally calling it a day. Prior to the Davis Cup, his last international appearance came at the Paris Olympics. The 38-year-year-old was battered and bruised and was almost defying his age and pushing his limits to give the 11,000-capacity crowd what they came to watch. That upper hook to win back a breakpoint after being 4-1 down in the second set was reminiscent of the old, usual Nadal.
A slightly younger Nadal would have pulled the opponent down from then on, this one didn't come close but every single one of the 11,000 spectators can look back at it as an 'I was there' moment in their own's final hurrah.
