By Mark Ogagan
Rafael Nadal’s remarkable 23-year career came to an end after Spain was eliminated by the Netherlands in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.
With tears in his eyes, the Spanish tennis legend said goodbye to professional tennis.
In a message to his adoring fans, one of the all-time greatest athletes said he just wanted to be celebrated for something so simple.
“I just want to be remembered as a good person and a kid that followed their dreams and achieved more than what I’ve ever dreamed,” the Spanish great modestly said.
In emotional scenes, Nadal – playing in his final professional tennis event – watched with tears in his eyes while other tennis greats, including Roger Federer, lauded the Spanish great in a retirement ceremony.
Despite Nadal and Spain having just been shockingly ousted from the Davis Cup by the Netherlands, the 38-year-old appeared at peace with his decision to walk away from a trophy-laden career while listening to his peers praise him in a tribute video.
“It was such a privilege to play with you but especially against you,” Roger Federer said. “Congratulations on the most incredible career.”
Novak Djokovic added, “Your tenacity, your fighting spirit, the energy that you brought, the power, is something that will be studied and something that will be transferred to many, many generations that are coming up.
“I’ve been very honored and thrilled to be called your rival.”
Serena Williams admitted, “You inspired me to have so many wins – to keep going – to fight – to get better – to improve – to basically play like you.”
The accolades could have continued for hours.
As he walked off the court, the tennis great blew kisses to the crowd and hugged his Spanish teammates before waving goodbye.
Nadal’s singular career began in 2001, when he turned professional at the age of just 14.
It wasn’t until April 2002, when Nadal was two months shy of his 16th birthday, that he recorded the first ATP Tour win of his career, which fittingly came on his home island of Mallorca.
Nadal then propelled himself from world No. 199 to No. 49 in 2003, winning Challenger titles and matches at Masters 1000 events, as well as recording his first two wins over top 10 opponents – including his current coach, Carlos Moyá.
The following year would be Nadal’s breakthrough on tour and cement his place as a Spanish hero.
He won the first ATP singles title of his career at the Pokrom Open and then, at just 18 years of age, beat world No. 2 Andy Roddick in the final of the Davis Cup on home soil to help Spain win the title for only the second time in history.
It is fitting that Nadal bade farewell to tennis on the stage that helped make him in Spain.
That year, 2003, there was also the small matter of a first meeting with Federer, a straight sets win for Nadal at the Miami Open that surely nobody predicted would be the beginning of arguably tennis’ greatest rivalry.
“All that buzz I’d been hearing about you — about this amazing young player from Mallorca, a generational talent, probably going to win a major someday — it wasn’t just hype,” Federer wrote of that match in his farewell message to Nadal.
But 2004 was the year Nadal truly shot to stardom and became a household name.
He won 24 straight matches during the clay court season, breaking Andre Agassi’s Open Era record for most consecutive victories by a teenager, culminating in his first French Open title in his tournament debut.
He may not quite have been the King of Clay just yet, but his game on the red stuff was already looking princely.
Nadal became the first male teenager to win a grand slam since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open and climbed to a career high No. 3 in the world.
It was the first of four straight French Open titles, before he was stunned by Robin Söderling in the fourth round in 2009 for his first ever defeat at Roland Garros.
That loss would be the first of just three that Nadal suffered at the French Open, though he had to retire injured ahead of his third-round match in 2016, giving him a 112-3 record on the Parisian clay, a win rate of 97.39%.
“On clay, it felt like I was stepping into your backyard, and you made me work harder than I ever thought I could just to hold my ground,” Federer wrote.
“You made me reimagine my game – even going so far as to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.”
Among his many career achievements, Nadal became just the second man to achieve the career singles ‘Golden Slam’ in 2010 – winning all four grand slams and Olympic gold – and helped Spain win four Davis Cup titles.
He also won Olympic doubles gold in 2016 and amassed a total of 92 ATP titles.
Nadal developed a reputation as one of the most tenacious players tennis has seen, chasing down every ball with fierce determination, even those that many other players would have given up as lost causes.
But the question is frequently asked as to whether Nadal’s aggressive style of play that made him so successful has in some way contributed to his injury problems.
With the number of injuries Nadal has suffered over the course of his career, it’s easy to ask: ‘What if?’
What if he hadn’t missed 11 grand slams due to various ailments? What if his body hadn’t failed him numerous times throughout his career?
How many grand slams would Nadal have now? How many more records would he have broken?
But Nadal never let the injuries define his career; though, of course, they played a big part. Instead, his career has largely been defined by his response to them: his tenacity, his will to win, and his unrelenting desire to come back time and again – and return to the top.
In the end, however, it proved to be one injury too many for his 38-year-old body to recover from – though his mind was evidently still as willing as ever, with Nadal often expressing his desire to return again next year.
But the injuries just mean the numbers and records Nadal has accumulated over his career are all the more remarkable.
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