By Scoop Malinowski
The end of the tennis tunnel is now in sight for Rafael Nadal. His publicist sent an email out earlier today to the International tennis writers association announcing the 22 time Grand Slam king will play his final professional ATP World Tour event at Davis Cup finals in Spain. Moments later, Team Rafa announced the news on social media.
The 38 year old Spanish dynamo suffered a mediocre result at the Olympics, unable to win a medal in the singles and doubles events. Surely those performances factored into the decision to call it quits.
I will never forget the first time seeing Nadal play live, it was at US Open 2003 as a seventeen year old he beat Fernando Vicente on court seven in the late afternoon. And in the second round he battled the seeded Younes El Aynoui on old grandstand. Nadal was a whirling dervish, flying around the court like a tennis tornado, stunning the popular Rockin’ Moroccan into a first set tiebreaker. While the grandstand was in pandemonium, I remember looking over at Nadal’s box with his uncle and others expecting to see them going crazy with excitement too but I was wrong – they were completely calm and stoic – they were not surprised at all he was holding his own with a top 20 player. They expected him to win the match (he lost 67 36 67).
Nadal didn’t win that late afternoon but he won the Davis Cup the next year. His first Davis Cup match win came in Feb. 2004 in Czech Republic vs Radek Stepanek 76 76 63 in the final deciding match of the tie on a fast indoor court. Nadal had lost earlier in the tie to Jiri Novak 67 36 67 but the captain had the confidence in Nadal to put him in the pressure cooker situation vs Stepanek. That valuable, clutch win vs Stepanek would launch Spain to win the Davis Cup vs USA later that year.
Over the years Nadal was nothing but pleasant to interview. He was always a perfect gentleman with fans. I will always remember two incidents at US Open in his early years as a young superstar, he practiced on Armstrong before the US Open started. One time after practice he obliged every single fan with signings and selfies and then climbed the barrier and exited the arena through the aisle in the stands, like the fans did. This put him in close contact to fans, without security. He departed Armstrong through waves of fans, back to Ashe. In 30 years I never saw any other star player exit an Armstrong practice like this.
Another time early in his career, as Rafa left Armstrong after practicing, he was about to enter an Ashe door entrance that only credentialed people could use. When he was about to enter the door guarded by security, a bunch of kids spotted him from 25 yards away and pleaded with him to wait and sign for them. Rafa easily could have pretended he didn’t see or hear them and entered but instead he saw them and decided to wait and meet them for a few moments. Nobody else witnessed this but me and a few others. Rafa truly was one of a kind and a people’s champion.
Nadal would win 92 ATP titles, Olympic gold medals, Davis Cups, 22 Grand Slams and over $134m in prize money and probably double that in other incomes.
There will never be another Rafael Parera Nadal, but we get one more chance to see the mighty tennis legend before he exits the sport he conquered and uplifted to new heights.
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Sam · October 10, 2024 at 3:44 pm
Wow, didn’t see this coming. I mean, I knew he was done winning big events, but I just thought he’d hang around indefinitely to boost his income from appearance fees and endorsements. 😏
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2024 at 9:14 pm
Sam, he realized at the Olympics he’s now mediocre on clay. he’s a journeyman level player now. he tried his hardest to find the level for one last hurrah and he gave up after two years of desperate training.
Cory · October 11, 2024 at 4:38 pm
What i always loved about Nadal was his razor sharp focus and never-say-die attitude. You knew that you could always count on 100% effort even when he was losing and losing badly. Of course, being so good, he was never out of any match even from those desperate positions. I’ll never know how Fognini beat his from 2 sets and 1-2 breaks down.
Steve · October 11, 2024 at 6:28 pm
Gasquet has announced his retirement. He’ll be stopping at the next French Open. Hopefully, they will give him a wild card as he is currently ranked 133, just outside direct entry into the main draw.
Sam · October 12, 2024 at 5:16 am
Scoop, I guess desperate times make people do desperate things. 😉
Scoop Malinowski · October 12, 2024 at 8:49 am
He worked his tail off for two years and only managed to earn journeyman results. The losses to the likes of McDonald and Thompson really hurt. Those are players he would have manhandled like 62 62 61 in his heyday.
Scoop Malinowski · October 12, 2024 at 8:53 am
Steve, he will probably need the wildcard and for sure the FFT will give it. But Gasquet is still playing a full very busy schedule and Challengers too, so he could easily get hot again and be top 100 again. I saw him at US Open qualies and his spirit and love for playing was still evident. He has that pep in his step still, none of that negative body language like Why am I still out here grinding? Gasquet still loves to play and probably will never lose that.
Scoop Malinowski · October 12, 2024 at 9:01 am
Cory, What Fognini did that night was like a mirror, Rafa’s example of being the ultimate fighter inspired Fognini in that famous US Open night match. It was Rafa’s greatness as the all time ultimate fighter of any sport, being used against him. Fognini knew what it took to beat Rafa and summoned the magic to do it. What I love about Rafa… his intensity, fury, passion, energy were like a young Hewitt but even more. We never saw a player with his kind of energy, physicality, and will to win. Rafa was sort of a Mike Tyson on a tennis court. And through it all a gentleman and kind hearted person. Maybe he showed a few poor sportsmanship examples at the end when Djokovic was evicting him from the goat throne but at his best, Rafa was a sensation and a phenomenon. I’m sure his departure from pro tennis will include one last hurrah.
Steve · October 13, 2024 at 7:10 pm
Fognini loved playing Nadal. Really good matchup for him technique-wise.
Scoop Malinowski · October 13, 2024 at 7:55 pm
Fognini definitely was extra motivated to play Rafa and gave him many fierce battles unlike too many other players who rolled over for him, at least it seemed that way. Soderling was another tough cookie and Rosol.