For over 20 years, Rafael Nadal has built on his reputation for authenticity.
Roger Federer was a tennis politician, an unthinking beacon of neutrality. Novak Djokovic He was destined to meet the difficult task of fitting into a sport defined by the Nadal-Federer rivalry by trying on a series of identities. Only recently has he reached his best form: a tennis statesman with a penchant for unleashing the antagonistic tennis demon he likes so much and that always lurks within him.
Rafa just did Rafa. He was never afraid to be painfully honest about what was happening before his eyes or around him. Sometimes he used his own words, punctuating a sentence with his trademark “it's my truth.” Sometimes it was one of those arched eyebrows in the shape of his forehand, or a sarcastic smile that barely contained his disbelief.
“Really, amigo?” he might say when Federer played until he was 41, essentially on one knee in the final rounds, or Andy Murray We bravely tested rackets and tried to resist back surgery this spring and summer. He still shared with them his desire to have nothing left to offer, but his decision to make that decision comes at the age of 38. The Davis Cup final in Malaga in November seems downright quick compared to the physical insecurities that have accompanied him throughout his life. last two years.
Nadal compiled all the data needed to say his time was up in 16 games spread over four months, all on a red surface where beating him was once arguably the most difficult task in any sport. He won 10 and lost six, including two painful and somewhat lopsided defeats to Alexander Zverev and Djokovic on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros, his supposed living room. And so it was, regardless of that mad bull, never-give-up mentality that has inspired admiration among friends and foes alike for centuries.
The last meeting between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was a signal to him that the time had come. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
“He's the mentally strongest player I've ever seen, and I'm not just talking about tennis, I'm talking about all sports,” his friend and compatriot Feliciano Lopez said in an interview on Thursday.
His mentality was never in doubt. He still wanted to play without physical limitations. He couldn't.
“It's obviously a difficult decision that took me some time to make,” he said in a retirement video.
“Everything in this life has a beginning and an end. I think it's the right time to end my career.”
How will Rafael Nadal leave tennis?
The truth is, it's been in the works for about two years, ever since Nadal stopped while chasing a forehand at Rod Laver Arena during the Australian Open in January 2023. He glanced at his box mid-stride, his eyes so wide open as if someone had stabbed him. him in the hip.
In June of this year, he underwent surgery to repair two muscle tears before embarking on a final comeback, enduring another string of setbacks each time he began to feel his game might still be within reach. Ultimately, Nadal was under no illusion that he would ever be able to compete with the best players in the world again.
In hindsight, it didn't even seem like it lasted that long. At the highest level of modern tennis, players must be able to collect a certain number of easy points on their serve. This was especially true for Nadal, who no longer had the speed and ability to chase balls for four hours in five sets as he had for 20 years.
He could no longer do the same amount of damage with his serve, a shot that had always been somewhat of a limitation, even though he had managed to turn it from a real weakness into something of a weapon. He couldn't lift or twist his body like he used to, and every time he went to the line, he basically hit two second serves. This will not change, even apart from tournaments on hard courts and the grass of Wimbledon, which makes us think about the last trip to the capital of France, where he, a boy from Majorca, has his monument.
Rafael Nadal's last French Open saw a cruel fate in the form of Alexander Zverev. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)
If he couldn't go there with the dream of doing something important, he wasn't going to bother. He didn't need another afternoon of adulation and parting gifts if the match before it was going to be nothing more than a farewell.
“I prefer to stay with all the amazing memories I have,” he said during a press conference ahead of the 2024 French Open.
Hubert Hurkacz, who also humiliated Federer with a Wimbledon bagel, hit Nadal at the Italian Open 10 days later. Nadal missed out on the post-match celebration and didn't mince words about the performance.
“I caused a disaster,” he said after the match.
A period of good health and a solid week of training before the final French Open gave him some hope, but… the draw was delivered by Zverev in the best shape of his life. Nadal said he felt good enough to maybe improve with each match, but the player selection didn't allow for that. Given his ranking and health, draws probably wouldn't help him anymore.
And then came the final Olympics data point in a second-round match against Djokovic, his longtime foe. In his 60th match, Djokovic won 6-1, 6-4 in a match that was not as close as this result suggests.
GO DEEPER
Match, set, match: Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal at the Paris Olympics
As in the case of Hurkacz, Nadal kept a cool and sober eye in assessing what happened that afternoon. He knew where his tennis stood. Djokovic controlled the court all day, playing from wherever he was comfortable, punishing Nadal on his serve and taking away his legs, just as Nadal had done to so many on that red dust for so long.
“He was much better than me,” Nadal said at the time.
He could have kept playing. In individual sports, no one separates you from the team. Especially tennis, and especially tennis with Nadal, whose tournaments would award him wild cards if he could ask for them. He could have spent the next year taking beatings from the likes of Hurkacz, Zverev and Djokovic, and then allowed crowds around the world to celebrate his torment.
He didn't need it. Putting it aside until the spring, he preferred to stay with all his amazing memories.
(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
