Rafael Nadal had been through the emotional wringer.
He had been welcomed on to Court Philippe Chatrier with a thunderous and prolonged ovation. He had welled up repeatedly while delivering a touching and heartfelt speech in three different languages. He had been reunited with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, his three greatest rivals. And he had received a special trophy commemorating the most absurd record in tennis or, perhaps, any other sport, namely the 14 French Open titles that made Roland Garros the only proper setting in which to celebrate his extraordinary career.
Throughout the special tribute ceremony held in his honour, the suited-and-booted Spaniard had just about held it together. True, he was obliged to wipe the moisture from his eyes almost as frequently as he once flicked the sweat from his brow in the heat of combat. But as befits a man who prevailed in all but four of his 116 outings in Paris, Nadal refused to succumb fully to the emotions swirling within.
Refused, that is, until the master of ceremonies announced there was one more surprise in store. With that, the 38-year-old was escorted to the side of the court by tournament director Amélie Mauresmo and Gilles Moretton, the president of the French Tennis Federation, where the clay was swept away to reveal a plaque bearing Nadal’s footprint, name and an image of the Coupe des Mousquetaires above the number 14. “Your footprint will stay here forever,” glossed the announcer, lest anyone should miss the significance of the moment.
It was the apex of an extraordinary afternoon, Nadal’s face crumpling with emotion as he embraced Morreton before gazing down at the homage with an expression of awed humility. He has often spoken of how he never saw himself as anything special, just an ordinary guy from Manacor who happened to be especially good at tennis. It was a refrain he returned to in a press conference afterwards. But at that moment, his face seemed to say, “All this – for me?” On the court where he was all but invincible, Nadal has never looked so lost.
By its very nature, clay is ephemeral. No one knows this better than Nadal, who spent two decades sliding his foot along the baseline between points, erasing ball marks from the red dirt. It was a futile exercise: Nadal’s imprint on the Parisian clay was always going to be unfading, with or without a commemorative plaque. Now, though, it will be indelible in the most literal sense. No wonder he looked overwhelmed.
“It has been an amazing surprise,” Nadal said later. “Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the ceremony. The only thing that I knew before going there was that there was going to be a video when I go on, then my speech and a couple of surprises, but they didn’t want me to tell me.
“When I saw that [plaque], I thought it was going to be just for this year. But knowing that’s going to be there forever is a present that I can’t describe in words. But for me it was, and it is, and it’s always going to be, a huge honour and very, very emotional to have this spot on the most important court of my tennis career, without a doubt.
“It’s difficult to describe the feeling, but it’s something that really touched me. Very, very special.”
A special career deserved nothing less, and in that respect there was a feeling among many that Nadal’s sendoff at last November’s Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, where his final match ended with a straight-sets defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp, fell short. Conducted in Spanish before an adoring home crowd, that ceremony was touching enough, but not even a video montage featuring Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Serena Williams could prevent it from feeling like a domestic affair.
If that was Nadal’s farewell to his nation, this was his farewell to the wider tennis world.
An adieu to the Parisian crowd, most of whom had been given clay-coloured T-shirts bearing the date and the legend “Meric Rafa”, with the remainder donning white versions that formed a human mosaic spelling out “14 RG” alongside a trophy, and “RAFA” either side of two hearts.
A goodbye to his legion of English-speaking fans, for the benefit of whom he recalled his first visit to Paris in 2004, when he was unable to compete due to a foot injury, but nonetheless clambered to the top of Chatrier on crutches, surveying the clay-court kingdom he would start to rule the following year.
A gracias to his family, to his pregnant wife, Mery, who cradled the couple’s two-year-old son in the stands, to his parents Ana María and Sebastián, to his nonagenarian grandmothers, and of course to his uncle, Toni, who moulded him into one of the greatest players of all time.
“Toni, you are the reason I am here,” said Nadal, choking with emotion as he looked up to his uncle, stationed in the stands close to his sister Maribel. “Thank you for devoting a large part of your life to being with me, coaching, talking, making me suffer, making me laugh, and also pushing me to my limits.
“What we have lived was not always easy, but without a doubt it was worth it. You have been, without a doubt, the best coach I could have ever had in my career and in my life.”
Later, there was a word too for Federer, Djokovic and Murray, Nadal hailing their four-way rivalry as a model of ferocious competitive spirit allied with good sportsmanship.
“After all these years fighting for everything, it’s unbelievable how time changes the perspective,” the champion of 22 majors told his former rivals after they emerged on court to a huge ovation.
“All these nerves, pressure, strange feelings that you feel when we see each other, when we are really rivals – it’s completely different when you finish your career.
“At the end, now, it’s all about being happy about everything that we achieved. At the end, all of us achieved our dreams: we became tennis players, we played in the most important stadiums of our careers, and I think we built amazing rivalries, but in a good way.
“I think we showed the world that we can fight as hard as possible, but in a good way, being good colleagues and respecting each other very well.”
Fittingly, though, the last word went to the city he held spellbound for the better part of two decades.
“Thank you France, thank you Paris,” said Nadal. “You have given me emotions and moments I could never have imagined.
“You made me feel like a Frenchman. I can no longer play in front of you any more, but my heart and my memories will always be linked to this magical place.”
Much as the plaque that bears Nadal’s name and footprint will ensure memories of his epic feats will forever remain embedded in the clay, just where they belong.