As the Spanish national anthem rang out for what would be the final time in his career, Rafael Nadal could not stop his emotions from flowing. Tears welled up in his eyes and his hands visibly shook by his side. Finally, the last stage of this epic 30-year journey had begun, a moment he never wanted to arrive but had no choice but to face. Nadal’s audience responded to his outpouring of emotions, clear to see on the big screen, with thunderous chants of “Rafa! Rafa!”
Not even those deafening, constant roars from the crowd could help to push Nadal beyond the limits of his bruised and broken body. Despite fighting for every last point with the diligence and desperation that has defined him, Nadal was comprehensively defeated 6-4, 6-4 by Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening Davis Cup rubber between Spain and the Netherlands, a match that would turn out to be the last of his professional career.
