After midnight, the Martín Carpena pavilion experienced a mix of emotions. The disappointment over Spain’s elimination in the Davis Cup was combined with a strange feeling, between emptiness and history, between gratitude and sadness. It was the end of a splendid era, more than two exciting decades of tennis. Rafa Nadal’s goodbye was already a fact. The myth, much to his regret, forced by his constant ailments, definitively separated his left hand from the racket.
“I feel privileged. I have had a long career. I give thanks to life”
“I have to thank so many people that it’s hard to start. “I have been able to receive a lot of love from everyone from Spain, and from the world in general,” Nadal began his speech while tears fell around him. His friend and coach Carlos Moyá was crying. Also his wife, his sister, his mother and finally his father, who tried in vain to contain himself. “Rafa, Rafa,” shouted a dedicated audience.
“There is an adaptation process. “I am calm because I have a great family.”
“Thank you for letting me spend these last days as a professional with the Spanish team. It has been a privilege and an honor. Now it’s your turn to continue experiencing great things,” Nadal continued while his successor, Alcaraz, applauded from the bench. At 38 years old, Nadal leaves resigned. “You never want to get to this moment. I’m not tired of tennis, but my body doesn’t want to play anymore. You have to accept the situation,” he explained.
“I have tried to be better from respect. The most important thing is to be a good person.”
“I feel privileged. I have had a very long career. “I give thanks to life,” he continued his endless list of thanks. The more than 10,000 spectators gathered at the Malaga venue, including the parish orange they interrupted the speech and stood up to say goodbye to the winner of 22 Grand Slams, the king of Roland Garros, the member of the eternal big three one of the best, if not the best, tennis player of all time.
“There have been bad moments but many immensely good ones. It has been a beautiful story. I have tried to be better from respect, valuing good things. But the most important thing is to be a good person, I hope you have perceived it that way. I am leaving professional tennis having found many friends. I leave with the peace of mind that I have left a legacy, not only sporting, but also personal,” he said, excited and on the verge of crying.
The applause, in a more than well-deserved tribute, resonated around a now surpassed Nadal, as he had never been seen on the court. The tears barely allowed him to appreciate the images projected on the scoreboard, a glimpse of his immense career. Tennis players like Federer, Djokovic, Del Potro, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and footballers like Rodri, Iniesta, Casillas, Beckham were some of the personalities who said goodbye to Nadal through the Carpena video scoreboard.
“There is a process, I don’t know if it is difficult, but one of adaptation. I am calm because I have received an education that allows me to face it calmly and with a great family,” Nadal concluded his farewell, probably less epic than he had imagined. Accustomed to glory, his epilogue was preceded by a defeat, against a minor rival, and far from the great stages of tennis. His legacy, however, is immortal, imperishable, an indelible lesson. Nadal now enters unknown territory. The legend only remains in the history books.
#Nadal #beautiful #story
