While Rafael Nadal hit his last ball on a professional tennis court, as part of a Spanish team eliminated from the Davis Cup quarterfinals by Yesterday in Holland, his family struggled to contain their emotions as they watched from the stands.
He The 38-year-old lost his single against Botic van de Zandschulp and was given a standing ovation by tennis fans as he walked to the net and finally watched the sun set on his remarkable tennis career.
In the stands, his nearest and dearest, including his wife María Francisca Perelló, 36, known as ‘Xisca’, burst into tears.
Beyond Rafa himself, the star of the show was his two-year-old son Rafa Jr, who encouraged his father at all times.
In recent months, the boy has become a regular character at his father’s European matches.
While Xisca looked elegant in elegant beige chinos, a white blouse and a sleeveless camel cardigan, little Rafa Jr also came dressed for the occasion, wearing pale green chinos with a matching striped shirt and impeccable high-top sneakers. cream.
As Nadal enjoyed a final lap of honor, his family, including his mother and father Ana María Parera and Sebastián Nadal Homar, wiped away tears.
Nadal is very close to his family; The star has been known to rent houses when visiting tournaments, hosting a wide range of family and friends, rather than staying in a hotel room.
Well done dad! Rafa Jr, the two-year-old son Nadal shares with his wife María Francisca Perelló, cheered on his father during his final professional tennis match at the Davis Cup in Malaga.
Emotional: The 38-year-old tennis legend, who announced he would retire earlier this year, was greeted with a standing ovation as he said goodbye to a stellar career.
Not a dry eye at home: Nadal’s family, including his wife María ‘Xisca’ Perelló, burst into tears when Nadal conceded to Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp in the Davis Cup match
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.
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.
The boy seemed happy to cheer up his father; The youngster has become a regular at Nadal’s matches close to home in recent months.
Rafa Jr wore pale green chinos with a matching striped shirt and impeccable cream-colored high-top sneakers.
One last time! Rafa Jr keeps his hands up as his father enters the court, and Nadal’s wife was equally fit as the tie began.
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.
When asked after the match if he was happy with his performance, Nadal was philosophical, saying: “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.”
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.