by Rafael Nadal’s final match before retirement was the defeat of the Davis Cup on Tuesday against Botic Van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands, and it came out exactly as it should: the fights.
The dashboard read 6-4, 6-4 in favor of Van de Zandschulp, but these figures do not tell the story of all the small battles and tiny wars that make up a tennis match-this in particular. Rafa, an icon of his country of origin, Spain, started strongly and scratched an advance of a match which he managed to hold up to 4-3 in the first set.
But the sharpness he had shown started in Ternes, and we saw the nadal less precise and more familiar from last year. His service, which had been tall and blister during his first four service games, began to drop him. He abandoned his head thanks to several double faults and missed shots, and soon Van de Zandschulp had taken over and won the first set.
Nadal could not get on the second set from the start. Van de Zandschulp zoomed in 2-0 before Rafa won a match, then won the next two to increase 4-1.
But then we saw the fighter. Nadal was not going to go down like that. He fought against victories in two consecutive games to give himself a chance to 3-4 to make the dramatic return that the crowd wanted.
The end of the stories book would have been magical, but it was not supposed to be. Rafa managed to win one more match, while Van de Zandschulp won two to win the set and the match. The Netherlands ended up eliminating Spain in the quarter-finals.
Overall, a microcosm of the last years of his career was very appropriate. There were moments of shine when we could see Nadal making magnificent plans that he alone could try, perhaps for the last time.
But these moments were surrounded by reminders that Rafa is 38 years old and that his body can simply no longer follow.
It is not a secret, nor something shameful that no one should talk about. For professional athletes, this day still comes. And if Nadal was denying on this subject, he would not retire. Accepting this means that there is no shame in losing; It’s just time to move on.
And Rafa will move on as one of the most loved tennis players of his generation, or any generation.
