If Rafael Nadal’s last match before retiring ends up being Tuesday’s Davis Cup loss to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, he went out exactly as he should: fighting.
The score read 6-4, 6-4 in favor of van de Zandschulp, but those numbers don’t tell the story of all the little battles and little wars that make up a tennis match, especially this one. Rafa, an icon in his native Spain, started strong and built a one-game lead that he managed to maintain until reaching 4-3 in the first set.
But the sharpness he had shown began to weaken, and we saw the less precise and more familiar Nadal of the last year. His serve, which had been big and powerful during his first four service games, began to let him down. He lost the lead thanks to several double faults and missed shots, and soon van de Zandschulp took control and won the first set.
Nadal could not get ahead in the second set from the beginning. Van de Zandschulp took a 2-0 lead before Rafa won one game and then won the next two to go up 4-1.
But then we saw the fighter. Nadal was not going to fall like that. They fought back to win in two consecutive games to have a chance to make it 3-4 and achieve the dramatic comeback that the crowd wanted so much.
The storybook ending would have been magical, but it wasn’t meant to be. Rafa managed to win one more game, while van de Zandschulp won two to take the set and the match. The Netherlands has a 1-0 lead over Spain in the final.
If that was Nadal’s last professional match, it was fittingly a microcosm of the final years of his career. There were brilliant moments when we got to see Nadal hit magnificent shots that only he could attempt, possibly for the last time.
But those moments were surrounded by reminders that Rafa is 38 years old and his body simply can’t keep up anymore.
That’s not a secret or something shameful that no one should talk about. For professional athletes, this day always comes. And if Nadal denied it, he would not retire. Accepting that means there is no shame in losing; It’s simply time to move on.
And Rafa will continue to move forward as one of the most beloved tennis players of his generation, or any generation.
We may not have seen the last of Nadal. He could play another game this week if Spain manages to win its two remaining games against the Netherlands. There’s still a chance Rafa will get that storybook ending.