Rafael Nadal says he is at peace as the Spaniard prepares to end his legendary career at the Davis Cup finals in Málaga this week.
“At the end, I achieved the most important thing for me, because this day arrived and I am in peace that I gave all that I had,” said Nadal. “I played and I practised since I was seven. I started at three but at that age, I started to work more and more with passion, with love, and with the determination to be as good as possible.
“I am not the kind of guy that I will say: ‘No, I would not change things,’ because for me it looks arrogant. Of course I would change things, but one thing has been so important for me [is that] I’m going to leave this professional tour with the calm and personal satisfaction that I give my best in almost every single moment.”
This has been a sobering final season for the 22-time grand slam champion. Having returned from hip surgery in January, Nadal’s hopes of a successful comeback did not materialise, and last month he announced his decision to retire. Nadal said he is not mentally burned out but his physical limitations have forced him to finish his career.
“If I have to explain the struggle I have had with my body throughout my career, it is not an explanation that will last five minutes,” Nadal said, laughing. “I have had several episodes in my career that have complicated my activity, but I have overcome them. The last injury in Australia forced me to have hip surgery and they had to remove part of my iliopsoas [muscle]. This has not allowed me to compete how I have done for most of my career.
“All these problems that I have had during my career have found a solution [or] they have given me windows of being able to play without limitations. Then they came back to me, and that is why I have had so many breaks in my career. I simply feel that I cannot carry out my activity normally and without limitations on a continuous basis.
“I no longer have windows that allow me to train or compete at 100%. And that is one [injury], but apart from that I have all the others that have not gone away and that are also limiting me. In other words, it is a cocktail that makes me, as many other athletes, have to stop. I see it as something logical for someone who has been working the way I have worked since I was seven or eight years old.”
Málaga city council has not taken the task of seeing off Spain’s greatest athlete lightly. Across the road from the Palacio de Deportes, the tournament venue, the city’s athletics stadium is adorned with a huge 2,600m2 banner reading “GRACIAS, RAFA” alongside an image of the 38-year-old.
Such is the fanfare and attention around his retirement, the press conference room at the Palacio de Deportes could not accommodate the large audience, leading the ITF to schedule Spain’s pre-tournament press event at a convention room in the player’s hotel, 12 miles away in Fuengirola. The rest of the Spanish team – Carlos Alcaraz, Marcel Granollers, Pedro Martínez and Roberto Bautista Agut – mostly watched in silence as the vast majority of questions were directed at Nadal.
“I am not here to retire. I’m here to try to help the team,” said Nadal. “Then it’s of course going to be my last week on the professional tour, but at the end, we are here in a team competition. The most important thing is to try to help the team and to stay all focused on what we have to do, that is play tennis and do it very well, no?”
The question remains what form Nadal’s participation in his final tournament will take. The Spanish captain, David Ferrer, will select the team for Tuesday’s quarter-final against the Netherlands. Based on recent results, it seems likely that Alcaraz and Bautista Agut will play singles while Nadal, who has not played competitively since the Olympics, could team up with Granollers in doubles.
As he discussed his playing prospects, Nadal also noted that he is unsure whether Roger Federer, his old rival, will make an appearance in Málaga to support him in the final moments of his glittering career. “My big farewell would be the joy of winning with everyone,” said Nadal. “I don’t know how I will respond or not. I don’t know if I’ll play a match or not. I’ve played very little recently. As for Roger’s presence, I don’t know if Federer will come here. He’ll try, but he has a very busy schedule.”
