The day Rafael Nadal ended his tremendous career journey as a professional tennis player, he finally arrived at the Davis Cup, Málaga. Before the match, he was tearful as he and his teammates stood on the court to hear the national anthem. The Spaniard claimed he had “closed the circle” after losing the first match to Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4, in front of the crowd at the Martin Carpena Arena.
Nadal reflected on the poetic symmetry of his Davis Cup journey as a full circle. He lost his first match during his debut for the Spanish team in 2004. 20 years later, his loss marked the end of his career as a professional tennis player.
Rafael Nadal’s Last Dance at Right Place
In 2000, 14-year-old Nadal marked his first step into Spanish Davis Cup history. Young Rafael from Mallorca became the flagbearer when the Spain team first clinched their victory on home soil. Four years later, Nadal made a statement victory on his debut by defeating the American and world No. 2 Andy Roddick to help Spain win the Davis Cup. This boy went on to help Spain win its next five Davis Cup titles over a two-decade span.
After an injury hiatus in 2008, Nadal was back to claim victory at the Davis Cup the next year, winning two points in Spain’s clean sweep of Czechia. The 22-grand-slam winner won the decisive matches in the following two Davis Cup titles: In 2011, in a four-set thriller against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, and 2019 against Denis Shapovalov of Canada in straight sets.
Nadal has closed his remarkable record of 37 wins and 6 defeats in Davis Cup play. The 9,200 spectators gave him great support with chants of “Ra-fa!” or “España!” or “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, you can!”), but he couldn’t win his last dance and had to watch Spain lose the quarterfinal tie against the Netherlands.
Only Carlos Alcaraz Won a Point
Nadal got his first Davis Cup single loss in 20 years after winning 29 straight matches. He was defeated by Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 6-4. The quarter-final tie ended with Netherlands defeating Spain 2-1 to end Nadal’s career. Carlos Alcaraz is the only player who took the point with a 7-6(0), 6-3 win over Tallon Griekspoor. Unfortunately, Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers lost 6-7 (4), 6-7 (3) to Wesley Koolhof and van de Zandschulp in the double clash. The Netherlands secured its place in the semi-finals, and Rafael Nadal officially retired.
Nadal has struggled a lot during the past two seasons with injuries. The 38-year-old had hip issues, including surgery in June 2023, and abdominal problems that combined to limit him to only 24 matches over the past two years. The Davis Cup match was only Nadal’s eighth official tournament this season. Another single match he played was in the Olympic Games, where the two-time Olympic tennis gold medalist crashed out in the second round of the singles competition to Novak Djokovic – who finally completed the Golden Slam.
Rafael Nadal and His Message to Tennis
During his speech after the match, Rafael Nadal admitted how hard it is to end his career now. He claimed that retirement came because he felt his body didn’t want to play anymore, and he had to accept that. The 14-time French Open champion also felt grateful because he could make his hobby his profession for a long time. When asked how he would like to be remembered in the sport, Nadal said: “The way I would like to be remembered is as a good person from a small village in Mallorca. Just a kid who followed their dreams and worked as hard as possible to be where I am today.”
