- Rafael Nadal lost his match with Spain in the Davis Cup against the Netherlands
- Spain was defeated in the tie, meaning Nadal’s brilliant career came to an end.
Rafael Nadal’s glorious career ended when Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup quarterfinals by the Netherlands.
In his last event before retiring, the 38-year-old lost his singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp, then after Carlos Alcaraz won his match, Spain lost the decisive doubles match.
Asked if it had been a satisfactory ending, the fiercest competitor the sport has ever known responded: ‘No, satisfying is giving the team a point. It wasn’t like that, I lost my match. But at this point in my career, I can’t complain much. I did my best, I tried to enjoy it and play with the right energy. It just didn’t work.
“In a way, it would be nice if that was my last match: I lost my first Davis Cup match and I lost my last,” said the 22-time Grand Slam champion. “This is how we close the circle.”
The prelude to this tie was pure theater.
The Spanish players came out one by one, then in the tunnel a white stripe appeared in the darkness and the most famous diadem in the world emerged.
Rafael Nadal’s career has come to an end after Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup by the Netherlands.
Nadal said goodbye to the fans after his brilliant time in the game came to an end
Nadal was defeated 6-4, 6-4 by Botic van de Zandschulp in what turned out to be his last match.
As fans in the arena screamed to the tune of the Spanish national anthem, the emotion was etched into Nadal’s wrinkled face.
During the warm-up, the announcer went through all of Nadal’s Grand Slam titles and each was applauded to the steel rafters. It took them a while, especially when they got to the French Open. ‘Roland Garros champion two thousand five’ – ‘OLE!’ – ‘Two thousand seven’ – ‘OLE’ and so on 14 times.
As a celebration of this champion of champions it was impressive, but once things got serious it was clear that Nadal was in trouble. He covered the court fairly well, but struggled to get much drive behind his groundstrokes, as his forehands lacked their previous effervescence.
Nadal’s selection was controversial: in purely sporting terms, surely captain David Ferrer should have chosen the reliable Roberto Bautista Agut? But with Nadal playing his last event before retiring, it would have been a brave man to deny the 11,500 spectators the spectacle they had come to see.
Nadal insisted that he had been selected solely on merit and not sentiment.
“I really think David put on the field the player he thinks had the best chance to win,” he said. “I told him from the beginning that he didn’t need to feel any pressure to include me.
“Of course, entering the field to play the first game was a risk. But that’s the captain’s job. “I’m sure he made the decision thinking about what was best for the team, not me.”
Nadal insisted he was selected on merit rather than feelings, but struggled during the clash.
The 38-year-old claimed it was not a satisfying ending but also said he had no complaints.
Spain captain David Ferrer’s (right) decision to choose Nadal instead of Roberto Bautista Agut (left) had been a major talking point ahead of the clash in Malaga on Tuesday night.
“Probably today the decision to put myself on the court didn’t work,” he admitted. “If I were the captain, he probably wouldn’t pick me the next day if we qualified, that’s my feeling.”
By a quirk of fate, the doubles were destined to end a Grand Slam winning run either way. Dutch doubles specialist Wesley Koolhof will retire after the Davis Cup and was completely inspired to combine with Van de Zandschulp to beat Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers.
Koolhof’s story continues, but one of the greatest stories tennis has ever told came to an end Tuesday night.