Mumbai: The night time got here to an finish very similar to the way in which the night had begun for Rafael Nadal in Malaga — in tears. Via that, the Spanish legend performed and misplaced a match which ultimately turned out to be his final in skilled tennis after Netherlands, regardless of Carlos Alcaraz’s win that stretched Nadal’s profession by a number of extra minutes, knocked Spain out of the Davis Cup Finals.
Rafael Nadal through the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. (AFP)
An upset on paper however for Spain celebrating the ultimate steps of their most revered athlete, the day was hardly in regards to the end result (“there will be many more Davis Cups, there’s only one Rafa”, as Alcaraz had mentioned). And because the organisers performed out a tribute video tracing the 38-year-old’s greater than two-decade lengthy tennis journey throughout a particular ceremony, Nadal’s eyes welled up. Like they did when he sang the nationwide anthem earlier than the beginning of his match.
Via all these feelings, Nadal didn’t lose his sense of humour.
“I lost my first match in the Davis Cup, and I lost my last one,” he mentioned. “So, we close the circle.”
The circle had the Spanish sensation gobble 22 Grand Slam titles — the second most in males’s tennis historical past — together with an unparalleled 14 French Open trophies, rule 209 weeks because the world No.1 and spend 912 consecutive weeks within the high 10, seize two Olympic gold medals and present his nation 4 Davis Cup titles (between his first loss in 2004 and the final in 2024, Nadal gained 29 straight Davis Cup singles matches).
“I leave with the peace of mind that I have left a legacy, which I really feel is not just a sporting one but a personal one,” Nadal addressed the spectators on the Martin Carpena Area engulfed in chants of “Rafaaa-Rafaaa”.
When it was Nadal’s time to pay attention as a video montage paid tribute to him, the feelings took over. It featured messages from fellow tennis greats and a few of his largest rivals — Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Serena Williams — in addition to stars throughout sports activities together with footballers David Beckham, Raul and Andres Iniesta and golfer Sergio Garcia.
Few tennis execs are as cherished and revered across the globe and throughout generations as Nadal is. And that, greater than his information, is what Nadal hopes to have left behind.
“The titles, the numbers, are there, so people probably know that,” Nadal mentioned. “But the way that I would like to be remembered more is like a good person, from a small village in Mallorca. I just want to be remembered as a good person, a kid that followed their dreams and achieved more than what I had dreamt.”
Maybe there was no higher particular person to discuss Nadal’s legacy than Alcaraz, his younger compatriot who grew up with a style for the game by watching Nadal and is touted to hold ahead the wealthy Spanish flavour in males’s tennis.
“His legacy is going to be eternal,” Alcaraz mentioned. “It is difficult — at least for me — to feel that I should continue the legacy that he has left.
“It is just great to have had Rafa in tennis, in Spain and in my life.”