MÁLAGA, Spain — Rafael Nadal said he would only let his emotions break through at the end.
That was before he heard the first few bars of “Marcha Real” as he stood alongside his Spanish teammates on the court at the Martin Carpena Arena. Once those notes rang out, his thousand-mile stare, fixed on the upper tiers of the packed stands, was unwavering, but his eyes welled with tears.
The Nadal retirement narrative was inescapable around this Davis Cup, despite his best efforts to make it about the team, and not his own farewell. “I’m not here to retire; I’m here to help the team win,” he said Monday.
But outside, there was a vast banner running around the nearby athletics stadium reading, “Gracias Rafa.” The ticket prices had soared for this quarterfinal against the Netherlands — everyone who has watched Nadal since his breakthrough over two decades ago wanted to catch one last glimpse of the man who is arguably Spain’s greatest athlete ever. Roger Federer penned a 585-word tribute to Nadal, the man he calls his “old friend.”
Ever since Nadal announced on Oct. 10 this was going to be his final act in tennis, it was always going to be about him, whether he liked it or not.
What followed was a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp. There were reminders of the old Nadal, the one who won 22 Grand Slams, ruled Roland Garros and established himself as one of the all-time greats. There were the fist pumps and shouts of “Vamos!” after key points. Even in the final notes of his career, only he could conduct a crowd quite like he does.
But then there was the reality of Nadal at 38 years old. The one who said his body could no longer match his competitive desires. And though he still performed with courage, his feet just couldn’t match his mind on Tuesday. At the end of the day, Spain was ousted from the Davis Cup after a loss in doubles as well, and Nadal’s storied career came to a close.
“I want to be remembered as a good person and a kid who followed their dreams and achieved more than I ever believed possible,” he said.
NADAL’S CAREER BEGAN in Manacor, Spain, more than 500 miles from the Davis Cup’s site in Málaga. It was there, under the guidance and tough coaching of his uncle Toni Nadal, where his talent quickly developed. He was a walking conundrum for opponents — a right-handed player who played with his left hand — and his unique ability to put topspin on the ball only added to his reputation.
He turned pro at 14 in 2001, won his first ATP match a year later at 15, and in April 2003 became the first 16-year-old to break into the top 100 on the men’s side since Michael Chang managed the same feat in 1988.
Nadal’s mentor has always been 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya, who has remained one of his closest confidants. And in their first official matchup at a tournament, in 2003 at the Hamburg Masters, a 16-year-old Nadal beat world No. 4 Moya.
“He was very shy, and nervous, and said, ‘I’m sorry, I won.’ And I said, ‘No worries,'” Moya later said of that defeat to Nadal. “I understood that it was the first of many times that he would win and I knew he would go on to be a great player.”
In 2004, he faced world No. 1 Federer for the first time, with Nadal winning in an upset at the Miami Open 6-3, 6-3. A year later, they met again on the same court. Federer was still a fiery player, a little more brash than the calm, magnanimous figure he would become. He slammed his racket against the court during the match and later said, “I’ll see very much from him in the future. So for me, this was a big match because I know what a great player he will be one day.”
At that stage, Nadal dressed in garish colors, sometimes sleeveless tops, three-quarter-length shorts, bandana sweeping back his wild, long hair. But he channeled his intensity through fist pumps and shouts of “Vamos!” rather than railing at the umpire or smashing rackets. Even to this day, he has never smashed a racket on the court.
“My family wouldn’t have allowed me to break a racket,” he said in a 2020 interview. “For me, to break a racket, it would be to lose control of my emotions.”
ROLAND GARROS WILL always be regarded as Nadal’s second home. Away from Mallorca, it’s in Paris where he’s most beloved.
His debut there came in May 2005, and it was 29-year-old Lars Burgsmuller who was Nadal’s first victim. “Everyone was talking about him,” Burgsmüller said in 2015. He had good form. He was on the way up. Everyone knew that he would be very, very good.”
Four rounds later, on his 19th birthday, Nadal faced No. 1 seed Federer in the semifinal. Federer was the darling of the crowd, but it was Nadal who came through and won. “We won’t see anyone like him for at least another five years,” Federer said afterward. “And to come in here and keep it going in Roland Garros is also very special.”
A couple of days later, having defeated Mariano Puerta in the final, Nadal held La Coupe des Mousquetaires for the first time. His back was caked in clay — that celebration of sheer astonishment as he fell to the ground, arms and legs outstretched, was to become a familiar sight. And for the first time, his emotions broke through.
“I thought I was going to lose after he won the first set; I thought he could win,” Nadal said afterward. “But I fight for every ball. When I have problems in the match, I fight, I fight, I fight every game. These moments are very strong, and when you reach your goal, it’s an extraordinary moment. For the first time, I cried after winning a match. It has never happened to me before.”
Since 2021, there has been a statue honoring Nadal on site, and the vast steel structure outside Court Philippe Chatrier is a permanent reminder of the mark he has left. When it was unveiled, the man himself was still sweating on the clay just a hundred or so meters from that immortalization of him, and he’d go on to win another title there in 2022.
It’ll be on that patch of clay where his legacy shines brightest: 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles came there. He leaves the French Open with an astonishing 96.5% winning record.
WHILE NADAL’S RECORD on clay will surely be unsurpassed, there are other titles in his remarkable career that anchor him as one of tennis’s greats. There’s the 2008 Wimbledon final triumph over Federer, widely regarded as one of the finest matches the sport has ever seen. Then there’s the 13-year gap between his two Australian Open titles — winning his second in 2022 just a couple of months after he contemplated retiring. There are also four US Open titles to boot, two Olympic gold medals — one in singles, one in doubles — and his four Davis Cup titles. It’s an incredible haul.
And then there was his rivalry with Federer. The two met a total of 40 times, with Nadal winning 24 of them and holding a 14-10 record in finals. But the two became close friends, as well. There’s an iconic photo of them holding hands at the 2022 Laver Cup, crying as Federer drew the curtain on his career.
“I have it at home, framed,” Federer said in June, “And when I pass by it, it always catches my attention because it reflects our camaraderie, our friendship and also the rivalry, all in one single image. That’s what this photo stands for to me. It was a great moment, short; take his hand for a second and show him my gratitude through that touch.”
Federer, five years older, was always the one for Nadal to chase. Novak Djokovic, who would go on to set the overall Grand Slam record and become the other member of the Big Three, started his career a little later. He chased the pair of them.
“For me [Federer] was always the guy to beat,” Nadal said in 2022. “So at some point, we were probably the biggest rivals I think always in a very good way. We respect a lot each other, families, teams. I mean, we never had big issues, no? On the court, we have opposite styles, and that’s what probably makes our matches and our rivalry one of the biggest and most interesting.”
Their contrasting tennis style was also matched by their fashion. Ahead of the 2008 Wimbledon final, Federer wore a bespoke cardigan, embroidered with RF logos, and an immaculate polo shirt. Nadal was in a sleeveless white tank top, with shorts below his knees.