By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Photo: Mike McNulty/Getty for ITF Davis Cup
Champions come and go.
Legends live forever.
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In front of an adoring home crowd serenading them with chants of “Rafa! Rafa!”, the 38-year-old Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal took a heroic exit in his final professional Davis Cup event in Malaga, Spain today.
Hollander Botic Van de Zandschulp beat Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s last match in singles.
Wesley Koolhof and Van de Zandschulp stopped Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) to beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals of Spain’s Davis Cup and end Nadal’s career.
Former world No. 1 Nadal spoke gratefully about his career and was moved when a video tribute was shown on the big screen.
Grand Slam champions including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro paid tribute to Nadal, expressing exactly what he means to tennis and to them personally.
Nadal was then asked about the legacy he hopes to leave.
The mud king said he hopes people can sum up his legacy in three words: A good person.
The owner of 92 career championships said that being a good person is more important to him than being a great champion.
“At the end of the day, to be honest, a lot of people work hard, a lot of people do their best every day,” Nadal told the crowd in Malaga. “But I am one of those people who have been very lucky that life gave me the opportunity to live unforgettable experiences because of tennis.
“I just want to be remembered as a good person and as a kid who followed their dreams and achieved more than I ever dreamed of.”
