Rafael Nadal played the last match of his glorious career yesterday, in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup Finals, losing against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets, showing evident physical difficulty throughout the match. Rafa tried, he gave his all, as he has always done in his career, but the final result (4-6 4-6) highlighted the precarious physical state of the Spanish champion.
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Rafa, at the press conference on the sidelines of the match, talked about with honesty the progress of the challenge and his last months. The Spanish champion emphasized that he had played his last match of his career and analyzed the performance shown on the indoor hard court of the Martin Carpen Arena, talking about how his priority is the good of Spain.
"Sometimes what you want is not in line with what is best for the team. I wasn't sure how I would react to the competition, since I hadn't played for months. In training it was working well. When I say this it's not because I don't want to anymore. I would like to be able to move forward and work to be competitive, both in singles and doubles. Given what I saw of my level in competition, if I were captain I wouldn't choose myself. I say what I think would be best for the team. If on Friday David tells me that I have to go out on the court, I will do it with maximum enthusiasm," he said.
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The Spaniard then talked about the difficulties suffered, specifying how obviously there is a combination of circumstances that makes everything go very quickly, making it difficult to control the match, as he doesn't have the automatisms that you have when you are in competition. And highlighting how this court is faster than what players are used to on Tour.
"He didn't have the mental agility to handle certain moments well. I've had more stressful challenges, but this could have been my last battle and, emotionally, I had to know how to handle it. I don't want to be hard on myself. I will continue to train every day to be better than I was today. I will cheer for the team and hope it goes well. I lost my first Davis Cup match and I also lost the last one!" he explained.
