Vamos Rafael Nadal! It’s time to go for Spain's brave warrior

Guided by that ailing body, aft truthful agelong pursuing his heart, Rafael Nadal this week called clip connected his playing days and ended a halcyon epoch for tennis.

The Davis Cup Finals brought the curtain down connected 1 of the astir glittering careers the athletics has seen. One of the astir bruising, too, and the extremity would person travel overmuch sooner if the Mallorcan had not wrestled superior injuries for arsenic agelong arsenic helium did. Nadal, 38, bowed retired alongside Carlos Alcaraz, his earthy heir.

Alcaraz, the four-time expansive slam winner, erstwhile asked if Nadal was his favourite player, replied: “Rafa is my favourite everything”, and helium said this was “the astir peculiar tournament, due to the fact that of the circumstances”.

Nadal’s status ended the richest epoch successful the past of men’s tennis. Between them, Nadal, Roger Federer and last-man-standing Novak Djokovic won 66 expansive slams, and for 2 decades the trio pushed each different to preposterous levels.

That was truest of Nadal erstwhile helium took to the reddish stuff. The King of Clay claimed 14 French Open titles, winning 96.6 per cent of his matches astatine Roland Garros. No subordinate has won a azygous expansive slam arsenic galore times. “It is intolerable for his grounds to beryllium breached — ludicrous numbers,” says Jamie Delgado, who played Nadal earlier coaching Andy Murray against him. Between 2005 and 2007, Nadal won 81 consecutive matches connected clay.

So impressive, then, was the resoluteness helium showed successful the 2008 Wimbledon final, for galore the top tennis lucifer ever played. A 3rd consecutive Federer-Nadal last astatine SW19, 3rd clip lucky. Victory successful 5 sets implicit astir 5 hours — and served retired 9-7 successful adjacent acheronian astatine 9.15pm — proved helium could premix it connected immoderate surface.

Once asked aft a nonaccomplishment to Djokovic whether helium was pleased the Serb existed, helium quipped: “No. I similar a challenge, but I americium not stupid.” He ne'er lacked for humour, either.

Feliciano Lopez is an ex-doubles spouse and 1 of the closest friends of “very shy, but precise funny” Nadal.

“I’ve ne'er seen a rival similar Rafa, successful immoderate sport,” Lopez tells Standard Sport. “Playing him, it is intolerable to neutralise his power, and helium maintains his strength from the archetypal constituent to last.”

Nadal represented the intersection of the grace of Federer and the ratio of Djokovic. “And helium evolved much arsenic a player,” explains Christopher Clarey, the erstwhile New York Times tennis analogous whose publication connected Nadal, The Warrior, comes retired adjacent year. “He tinkered with his forehand, adjacent though it was his champion shot, and changed his backhand and service too.”

What drew radical to Rafa? “The emotion, the explosiveness, the extreme-grip forehand with the decorative finish,” Clarey says. “He brought forehand top-spin and powerfulness unneurotic successful a caller way.”

Federer missed six expansive slams done injury; Djokovic conscionable 1 retired of 79. Nadal had to beryllium retired 15. One wonders however galore much than his 22 majors helium mightiness person won without the tendonitis successful his knees and Mueller-Weiss syndrome, the uncommon degenerative ft illness diagnosed erstwhile helium was a teenager.

All the much unthinkable that helium spent a grounds 912 consecutive weeks successful the world’s apical 10, won each expansive slam astatine slightest doubly and golden astatine the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the eyes of Andres Iniesta, scorer of the 2010 World Cup-winning extremity and a contender himself, Nadal is Spain’s greatest-ever sportsperson.

The iconic photograph of Nadal and Federer holding hands and weeping astatine Federer’s status aft the 2022 Laver Cup present comes afloat circle.

“The warrior mentality came from a heavy spot wrong him,” says Clarey. It defines not lone wherefore helium was truthful successful, but wherefore helium battled truthful hard for truthful long.