By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Photo credit: Mike McNulty/Getty for ITF Davis Cup 

Champions come and go.

Legends live forever. 

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Before an adoring home crowd serenading him with chants of "Rafa! Rafa!", 38-year-old Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal received a heroic send-off in his final professional event at Davis Cup in Malaga, Spain today.

Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp defeated Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the 22-time Grand Slam champion's final singles match.

Wesley Koolhof and Van de Zandschulp stopped Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers 7-6(4), 7-6(3) clinching The Netherlands 2-1 Davis Cup quarterfinal conquest of Spain and ending Nadal's storied career.

Former world No. 1 Nadal spoke with gratitude about his career and grew 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 exactly what he means to tennis and to them personally.



Afterward, Nadal was asked the legacy he hopes to leave.

The king of clay said he hopes people will sum up his legacy in three words: A good person.

Embed from Getty Images

The owner of 92 career championships said being a good person is more important to him than being a great champion.

"At the end of the day, being honest, a lot of people work hard, a lot of people try their best every single day," Nadal told the crowd in Malaga. "But I am one of these that I have been very lucky that the life gave me the opportunity to live unforgettable experiences because of tennis.

"I just want to be remembered as a good person and as a kid that followed their dreams and achieved more than what I ever dreamed."

In that quest, as well as so many others in his glorious career, Nadal was an inspired success.