Written by Richard Pagliaro | @Itenisi_Manje | Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Photo credit: Mike McNulty/Getty for the ITF Davis Cup
Champions come and go.
Legends live forever.
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In front of an adoring home crowd who cheered him on with chants of “Rafa! Rafa!”, the 38-year-old Spanish star. Rafael Nadal earned a hero’s medal in his final professional event at the Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain today.
Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp beat Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the final singles match for the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
Wesley Koolhof and Van de Zandschulp stop Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers 7-6(4), 7-6(3) Netherlands 2-1 Davis Cup win over Spain in quarterfinals and elimination Nadal’s course.
Former world number one Nadal spoke of his gratitude for his career and became emotional when a tribute video was played on the big screen.
Grand Slam champions including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro paid tribute to Nadal, expressing what he means to tennis and to them personally.
Afterwards, Nadal was asked about the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
The clay king said he hopes people will sum up his legacy in three words: A good person.
Embed from Getty Images
The owner of 92 championships said that being a good person is more important to him than being a great champion.
“At the end of the day, to be honest, a lot of people work hard, a lot of people try their best every day,” Nadal told the crowd in Malaga. “But I am one of those who was very lucky that life gave me an opportunity to live that I will never forget because of tennis.
“I want to be remembered as a good person and as a child who followed their dreams and achieved more than I ever dreamed.”
In that pursuit, along with many others in his illustrious career, Nadal was an inspired success.
