And so it begins. El ultimo baille: the last dance of Rafael Nadal. After the biblical rains of last week comes the flood of emotion as Malaga and Spain prepare to say goodbye to their most cherished son.
‘Gracias Rafa’ is written in 50metre-high letters next door to the Palacio de Deportes where the Davis Cup Finals, Nadal’s last event, will be played this week.
The hysteria has been building and on Monday morning Spain conducted their opening press conference. Media interest was so feverish that organisers had to move the event to team Spain’s five-star hotel, down the Costa del Sol in Fuengirola.
There were six blood-red tracksuits on stage but all eyes were on the man in the middle. How much we will see of Nadal on the actual match court this week remains to be seen, but more on that later.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion explained his decision to retire, when most expected him to push – or limp – on to one final French Open next May.
‘I can hold on for one more year, but why?’ said the 38-year-old. ‘To say goodbye in every single tournament? I don’t have the ego to need that.’
Rafael Nadal will retire from tennis after participating in Spain’s Davis Cup campaign
Hysteria is building but Nadal has insisted he is only focused on winning the competition
That is the essence of Nadal. He is the humble superstar. The global icon who was always happier fishing off the coast of Mallorca than trotting red carpets.
The truest mark of his fundamental decency is how kind and friendly he always is to the ancillary staff at tournaments. Before and after the press conference, he embraced the woman who has been a long-serving transcriber at these events like a beloved aunt.
It is partly for these reasons that, more so than Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Nadal is adored by his younger peers on the tour.
A sign of his longevity is that the generation he inspired are now at the top of the game themselves. Jack Draper, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and many more all idolised Nadal as children. And then, of course, there is Alcaraz, who still looks like a competition winner as he sat grinning next to Nadal on stage.
So what is Nadal’s legacy, for which these young stars are the living embodiment? He, along with Djokovic, took the physicality of the sport on to a whole new level. He changed the geometry of the game, hitting winners from corners and edges of the court usually reserved for line judges.
There are the 14 French Open titles and 89 per cent win rate on clay but by adapting his game, becoming a master volleyer and winning two Wimbledon titles, Nadal also exploded the stereotype of the Hispanic dirtballer who is lost without the crushed brick beneath his feet.
Nadal’s last event, though, will be on his least favourite surface of indoor hard court, where only two of his 92 titles have come.
But it is no surprise he has decided to end his career in the team environment. He is a family man and the red tracksuited colleagues surrounding him this week are his familia segunda.
It is no surprise he has decided to end his career surrounded by his second family
Nadal remains a humble superstar and he is adored by his younger peers on the tour
‘The feeling of playing for your country is incredible, 90 per cent of my career I have been with David Ferrer (his Davis Cup team-mate and now captain), Carlos Moya (his hero and now coach), and now Carlos Alcaraz,’ he said. ‘It’s 20 years competing in this Davis Cup with different relationships and in the end you have a family.
‘When you win, everybody wins. When you lose, everybody loses.’
Nadal has the vain hope that attention can now shift from his goodbye to Spain’s efforts to win a seventh Davis Cup.
‘I’m not here to retire,’ he said. ‘I’m here to help the team win. It’s my last week in a team competition and the most important thing is to help the team. Emotions will come at the end.’
Alcaraz had clearly missed the memo earlier this week, when he said: ‘Rafa’s farewell is more important than the Davis Cup. There are Davis Cups every year, but there is only one farewell to a tennis legend.’
Spain begin their campaign against the Netherlands on Tuesday, at 4pm UK time, but the initial focus will be on captain Ferrer’s team sheet, due one hour earlier.
Will Nadal play singles, doubles or – even – neither? Asked if he is physically ready to play singles, Nadal replied: ‘That’s a question for the captain, not for me. I think the improvement is there every day but we have a great team.’
Ferrer played the straightest of bats. ‘You will know tomorrow,’ he said. ‘For the moment, I have not decided the players that are going to play.’
The extent of Nadal’s involvement is not yet known with captain David Ferrer undecided
But if Spain can shut out the circus, Nadal can earn the most glorious of farewells in Malaga
With Alcaraz inked in as Spain’s No 1, by purely sporting logic the second spot should be taken by Roberto Bautista Agut, the world No 47, or world No 41 Pedro Martinez. Nadal is a superb doubles player and, given that format would test his body far less, he would form a strong partnership with Marcel Granollers.
The convention here is that, if the best-of-three tie is over after the two singles matches, the doubles is not played.
But organisers have some discretion so, given tickets have been changing hands for thousands of euros to watch Nadal on Tuesday, they will likely wheel him out even if Spain have already won or – heaven forbid – lost.
And the doubles this week should give Nadal a chance to showcase his extraordinary skills one last time.
If team Spain can block out the circus, if Alcaraz, in a funk and nursing a head cold but burning with desire to deliver for his idol, can rediscover his best form, there is a chance Nadal can end with the most glorious of farewells on Sunday.
Perfect endings are rare in sport and especially in tennis. But if anyone deserves it, it’s Rafa.
