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.

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In an emotionally-charged video released on Thursday morning, the 38-year-old Spaniard said his injury-ravaged body would no longer allow him to compete without physical restrictions.

“I am retiring from professional tennis,” Nadal said. “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations.  

“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has its beginning and an end, and I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”

A pillar of what is widely regarded as the finest era men’s tennis ever witnessed, Nadal won 92 singles titles, including 22 majors, and held the world No 1 ranking for a total of 209 weeks. His epic three-way rivalry with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer defined the sport for almost two decades, confounding the expectations of those who insisted his combative playing style and chronic knee problems would spell an early end to his career.

Nadal will be particularly remembered for his domination on clay, not least at the French Open, where his tally of 14 titles is unlikely to be surpassed. His record of 81 consecutive wins on red clay represents the longest single-surface streak in the open era, and he has also rewritten the record books at each of the three Masters 1000 events staged on the surface, winning 11 times in Monte Carlo, five at the Madrid Open and a further 10 in Rome. For good measure, Nadal also won a dozen times at the ATP 500 event in Barcelona.

Yet for all his extraordinary achievements at Roland Garros, where he was beaten just four times in 116 matches, earning the moniker “King of Clay”, the Spaniard was a master of all surfaces. In 2008, after finishing runner-up to Federer in each of the two previous years, Nadal defeated the Swiss in an epic final to fulfil his childhood dream of winning Wimbledon. That match, hailed by many as one of the greatest in history, came amid a run of five straight final appearances at the All England Club, where he claimed a second title against Tomas Berdych in 2010. In the same year, Nadal won the first of four US Open crowns, a reflection of the hard-court prowess that also earned him victories at the Australian Open in 2009 and 2022.

An Olympic gold medallist in singles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and in doubles alongside his compatriot Marc López in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Nadal’s decision comes barely two months after Andy Murray, another of his great rivals, called time on his career at the summer Games in Paris, where Nadal was beaten by Djokovic in the second round. That defeat, which came just weeks after a first-round French Open loss to Alexander Zverev, marked the Spaniard’s last appearance on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The final flourish of an extraordinary career came in the first half of 2022, when Nadal returned from a six-month injury layoff to win a second Australian Open and, despite battling a chronic foot injury, a 14th title at the French Open. He went on reach the Wimbledon semi-finals, from which he was forced to withdraw after suffering an abdominal tear during a gritty five-set win over Taylor Fritz. That injury marked the beginning of the end. Nadal has spent much of the past two and a half years battling physical issues, including a recurrence of the abdominal problem and a torn hip muscle on which he underwent surgery last summer.

Nadal, whose final appearance will come on home soil for Spain, who face the Netherlands in the last eight of the Davis Cup on 19 November, concluded his farewell announcement by thanking his legion of fans – but not before paying a moving tribute to his family.

“We have lived so much together that it is hard to explain,” said the Spaniard, his eyes reddened by emotion. “My family is everything to me.

“My mother, I think she has made all the sacrifices she had to make so that we would always have everything. 

“My wife, Mery, we’ve been together for 19 years – thank you for everything you have done. I think you’ve been the perfect travel companion during all these years of my career. To come home and see how my son is growing every day has been a force that has really kept me alive and with the necessary energy to continue.  

“My sister, I think we have always had an incredible relationship. My uncle, who is the reason I started playing tennis. I believe that thanks to him, I have also been able to overcome many situations that have been difficult in my sporting career. 

“And to my father, who I believe has been a source of inspiration for me in every sense of the word. I think he has been an example of effort, of overcoming. Many, many thanks to my father in a very, very special way.”

Tributes to the Spaniard were led by Federer, who ended his career on 20 grand slam titles, two behind Nadal and four short of Djokovic on the all-time list.

“What a career, Rafa,” the retired Swiss wrote on Instagram. “I always hoped this day would never come. Thank you for the unforgettable memories and all your incredible achievements in the game we love. It’s been an absolute honour.”

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It barely mattered that Djokovic is without a title this season and underwent knee surgery less than two months ago, or that the injury-plagued Nadal came into the contest with only a dozen matches under his belt this year. This was appointment viewing, and the clamour to witness the legendary duo’s second-round meeting at the Paris Olympics – and possibly their last meeting anywhere – extended even to the sizeable press area on Court Philippe Chatrier, which became so packed that scores of queuing journalists were turned away.

But for all the hallmarks of an epic occasion, Nadal had counselled caution beforehand, stressing that the old certainties are no longer what they once were, and his warning proved well founded. The 38-year-old Spaniard has moved heaven and earth to be competitive at these Olympics, skipping Wimbledon to continue his preparations on clay, and when he reached his first final in two years in Bastad just over a week ago, showing flashes of his former self, he appeared to be on the verge of a meaningful return to form. Nadal, however, was circumspect, pointing to his difficulty in maintaining his level and intensity from first ball to last, and expressing dissatisfaction with his backhand. Such pronouncements rarely owe anything to kidology where Nadal is concerned, and clearly Djokovic was listening. 

Rarely has Nadal been so thoroughly outclassed on a clay court. Djokovic came in with a clear game plan and implemented it to near-perfection. A sequence of beautifully executed drop shots and abrupt injections of pace made plain his intentions from the outset, the Serbian top seed testing Nadal’s recovery from a recent thigh injury, but also asking bigger questions. How confident was Nadal in his body? Was he prepared to suffer and, if so, how much? Did he truly believe? 

In varying degrees, Nadal was found wanting on all fronts. His movement was sprightly, but not sprightly enough to cope with Djokovic’s power and touch. He struggled to summon the explosive athleticism of old, too often caught on his heels as the Serb feasted on his serve and drilled backhands into places where Nadal did not want to be. Unable to exert sustained pressure, Nadal became a bystander at his own execution, powerless to intervene as Djokovic pocketed 10 of the first 11 games. A rout appeared inevitable until a spirited late fightback added a veneer of respectability to the scoreline, but Djokovic was good value for his 6-1, 6-4 victory.

“It’s simple, one player was much better than the other,” said Nadal. “For an hour, it was hard to digest what was happening, with physical exhaustion and the mental side. There was suffering, because the game was blatantly going badly for me. He was stronger in every aspect, and he was not giving me anything.

“I wasn’t able to play at the level I needed to create problems for him. I didn’t have the quality of shot I needed, and I also don’t have the same legs I had 15 years ago. Without ball quality and the legs of 15 years ago, you are not going to create problems for the best in history. The analysis is easy: I have not been at my level; he has, and the result was costly.”

At a venue where Nadal has won 14 of his 22 majors, etching his legend so deeply in the terre battue that a steel statue stands in his honour within a stone’s throw of Court Philippe Chatrier, it was the most sobering of afternoons. Only as humiliation beckoned did he rouse himself, rallying from 6-1, 4-0 down to level the second set at four games apiece. Even that sequence began with a donation from Djokovic, who screwed a forehand wide to gift Nadal his first break point of the afternoon, then hit a jittery double fault. To his credit, Nadal took full advantage, and when he punctuated his comeback by winning the point of the afternoon, rising to meet a bounce smash from Djokovic with an overhead of his own, then rolling a forehand pass for a winner, anything seemed possible.

As Nadal raised a fist in triumph and the crowd, fiercely loyal to him throughout, began chanting his name more loudly than ever, Djokovic kept a cool head. Pushing for another break, he patiently maintained pressure on Nadal’s serve, shrugging off the disappointment of missing three break points to convert a fourth with an immaculate drop shot. Two aces in the final game – where Nadal, to his evident dismay, returned an inviting second serve long at 30-30 – sealed victory for Djokovic as well a measure of revenge for his semi-final defeat to Nadal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

“[I’m] very relieved, because everything looked like going my way [at] 6-1 4-0,” said Djokovic, who now leads his career-defining rivalry with Nadal by 31 wins to 29. “I got maybe a little bit too comfortable there at 4-1, played a pretty sloppy service game, and you can’t give any chances to Nadal, because he’s going to use them, he’s going to come back, especially on this court. With the crowd getting involved, obviously it was very tough. 

“Crucial game at 4-4, last game with the old balls, I just tried to break his serve and serve against the wind with new balls. I did well last couple of serves but, wow, it was a very, very close encounter, especially in the second. I’m very pleased with the way I played.”

While Djokovic will continue his pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, the only significant omission from his trophy collection, Nadal can reflect on what has already been a memorable campaign in Paris. His prominent role in the opening ceremony, where he received the Olympic torch from Zinedine Zidane and carried it down the Seine alongside Serena Williams, will linger long in the memory, while his tenacious opening-round win over Hungary’s Márton Fucsovics suggested he still has much to give, not least alongside Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles. 

Whether any of that will be enough to encourage him to continue playing beyond this year remains to be seen. Before losing to Alexander Zverev in the opening round of this year’s French Open, he had lost only three times in 115 matches at Roland Garros; now he has been beaten twice in two months. But with so much glory behind him – including two Olympic gold medals, the first won in Beijing in 2008, the second in doubles with Marc López in Rio de Janeiro eight years later – Nadal insists he is at peace with whatever the future holds. 

“I have been suffering a lot of injuries the last two years,” he said. “So if I feel that I am not competitive enough to keep going, or physically I’m not ready to keep going, I will stop and I will let you know. But I don’t think every day about if I am retiring or not.

“If that’s the last match here, I’ll be in peace. I did my best and I can’t complain.”

The post Djokovic claims emphatic win over Nadal at Paris Olympics appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Djokovic, three of whose 24 grand slam titles have come on the Parisian clay, will begin his quest to make good the only significant omission from his trophy cabinet against Australia’s Matthew Ebden. It will be the 37-year-old’s fifth Olympic campaign, with his best return so far the bronze medal he won in Beijing in 2008, where he was beaten in the semi-finals by Nadal. While Nadal would go on to win a gold medal against Chile’s Fernando González – and added a second four years later in Rio de Janeiro, where he partnered Marc López, now a member of his coaching team, to the men’s doubles title – Djokovic’s Olympic odyssey has been a more painful one. 

At the 2012 Games in London, where he was handed the honour of bearing Serbia’s flag, Djokovic was beaten by Andy Murray in the last four and then denied bronze by Juan Martín del Potro, who also consigned him to a tearful first-round exit in Rio in 2016. Victory seemed all but assured in 2020, when Djokovic arrived in Tokyo with a golden grand slam in his sights after winning the first three majors of the year. Instead, he was stunned by Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, then suffered a meltdown against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the bronze medal match, hurling his racket into the stands – fortunately empty due to the global pandemic – and obliterating a frame against the net post as he slipped to a three-set defeat.

Small wonder, then, that Djokovic has made no secret of prioritising the Olympics this season. His most recent visit to Roland Garros ended unhappily after he suffered a torn meniscus in his last-16 win over Francisco Cerúndolo and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. He subsequently underwent knee surgery and, despite an improbable run to the Wimbledon final, where he was beaten in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz, a question mark remains over his fitness. His movement was clearly below par against Alcaraz, and his intensive rehabilitation efforts will not have been helped by the switch back from grass to clay, challenges he acknowledged after the final. 

“In order to really have a chance to beat these guys in a grand slam, latter stages, or Olympics, I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today,” said Djokovic. “I’m going to work on it. 

“Hopefully [I] have a chance to fight for a medal for my country. On a completely different surface, obviously, going back to the place where I got injured some weeks ago. Let’s see.  Let’s see how physically and mentally I’m going to feel. Hopefully I can find the right tennis, because I’m going to need all I have and more to go to the final of the Olympic Games.”

If the Serbian world No 2 is to fulfil that dream, however, he may have to go through Nadal, who reached his first final in two years last week on the clay courts of Bastad. The Spaniard faces a potentially tricky opening-round assignment Márton Fucsovics of Hungary, ranked 83 in the world and widely regarded as one of the fittest players on tour. Mercifully, Nadal looked strong in practice on Friday, warming up alongside Alcaraz, his doubles partner, with his right thigh bandaged after suffering a midweek fitness scare that had his coach, Carlos Moya, warning that the 22-time grand slam winner’s singles campaign could be in doubt. Djokovic, however, will be among the many hoping his old rival makes the start line.

“Expectations for the Olympics are high, and I can’t and don’t want to change that,” said Djokovic. “It creates a personal motivation for me to approach it in the best possible way for the best possible result.

“In the last four, five days, I feel more prepared for the Olympics than I was for Wimbledon. I’m looking forward to the start of the tournament.

“It would be exciting to play against Nadal in the second round.”

Should that showdown materialise, it would be the 60th meeting between the pair. Djokovic currently has 30 wins to Nadal’s 29, although the Spaniard has prevailed in eight of their 10 matches at Roland Garros, the most recent of which came two years ago, when Nadal came through a four-set quarterfinal classic.

The bottom half of the draw is propped up by Alcaraz, who will be competing at the Games for the first time. The 21-year-old, who opens on Saturday against Hady Habib of Lebanon, is projected to meet reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, in what would be a rematch of last month’s French Open final, won by the Spaniard in five sets. Alcaraz is relishing the prospect of competing alongside Nadal. 

“There’s no better way to make your Games debut than by forming a doubles partnership with Rafa,” said Alcaraz. “We’ll do our best, with the greatest desire, with a lot of enthusiasm while making people enjoy it.”

Nadal and Alcaraz will open their campaign against Andrés Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina on Saturday.

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For almost two decades, Rafael Nadal has held Roland Garros under his spell. Fourteen times he has raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires on the final Sunday in Paris, where he returned this year with a ludicrous record of just three defeats from 115 matches. 

The Spaniard’s well documented ability to perform miracles on his beloved red clay meant that, despite the toll injury has taken on his battered body, and for all his uneven form since returning to the game last month in Barcelona, nobody was taking anything for granted as he faced Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, in what was potentially the final French Open match of his career. 

It was appointment viewing, a contest that quite literally brought out the stars. Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek, the men’s and women’s world No 1s, were both in attendance, as was Carlos Alcaraz, the Wimbledon champion and Nadal’s likely doubles partner at the forthcoming Paris Olympics. 

But on a drizzly day in Paris, the magic faded. Zverev exuded self-belief beneath the closed roof of Court Philippe Chatrier, taking on his shots in the baseline exchanges and producing an imperious serving display to claim a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win and become only the third man to defeat Nadal in Paris, after Djokovic and Robin Soderling.

Despite a nervous start that saw him broken to love in the opening game, there were glimpses of the old brilliance from Nadal, most notably when he electrified the fiercely partisan crowd with a trademark celebratory leap after holding from two break points down early in the second set. That proved the prelude to a first break of serve, and in due course a chance to serve for the second set. But Zverev handled the moment perfectly, returning superbly and biding his time in the baseline exchanges to claim a love break. It was the story of a match that Zverev made his own with a clinical performance, even as he accepted that the day itself belonged to Nadal. 

“I played at a good level in all ways, comparing to the way that I was playing the weeks before,” said Nadal, whose build-up to the tournament brought losses to Alex de Minaur in Barcelona, Jiri Lehecka in Madrid, and Hubert Hurkacz in Rome. 

“So, happy for that. Of course, disappointed for losing, but in terms of body feelings, happy that I finish healthy and I had a tough battle out there. And I was ready for a little bit more. So that’s it. Accept the moment.

“If it’s the last time that I played here, I am in peace with myself. I tried everything to be ready for this tournament for almost 20 years. Today and the last two years, I have been working and going through probably the toughest process in my tennis career with the dream to come back here. At least I did. I mean, I lost, but that’s part of the business.”

In truth, events conspired against Nadal, first when a cruel draw pitted him against Zverev, one of the only top men’s seeds without a question mark hanging over his form and fitness, and then when the weather intervened. With the roof closed and the conditions heavy, the potency of the Spaniard’s topspin was nullified, balls that would normally rear up above head height instead falling in Zverev’s wheelhouse. The German, high on confidence after his recent win at the Rome Masters, and assisted by Nadal’s struggle to find length in the early stages, gleefully took advantage, stepping inside the baseline to send his opponent scurrying into the corners.

It was once Nadal who meted out such treatment in the wide expanses of Chatrier, but he did not balk at his unaccustomed role, gamely pursuing every lost cause. His defensive powers are not what they were before he underwent hip surgery last summer – not yet, at any rate – but he moved more freely than at any other stage since his latest comeback. The larger problem was his lack of recent matches at this level, which manifested itself in some questionable shot selection, most glaringly when he twice telegraphed poorly-executed drop shots in the heart of the second-set tiebreak. 

“I felt my body healthy before the tournament,” said Nadal. “That week was the first week that I started feeling that I can move without limitations. That’s why I was able to build a better level, to practice well against every player. But the normal thinking was [that it was] not enough, one week, to be ready to win these kind of matches.”

It may be enough to do better at the Olympics, however, which will be staged at Roland Garros in July. With that in mind, Nadal suggested he was likely to skip Wimbledon.

“I need to talk with team,” said the Spaniard. “But I don’t think it’s going to be smart after all the things that happened to my body [to] now make a big transition to a completely different surface and then come back immediately to clay, no?”

Zverev, meanwhile, a semi-finalist in each of the past three years, will now attempt to parlay the momentum from this victory into another deep run on the Parisian clay. There will be a sense of catharsis for the German, too, who ruptured ankle ligaments when he faced Nadal at Roland Garros two summers ago and, when the draw was made, said he welcomed the opportunity to ensure his last memory of facing Nadal was not leaving the court in a wheelchair. 

“The improvement that he’s made over the past few months and just the difference in level that he played today, compared to his last tournaments, was unbelievable,” said Zverev. “I really felt like it was it was a very good match, and I think if he stays healthy he’s going to continue playing better, and then I think he’s going to be seeded again and that makes it easier for him.”

Zverev’s thoughts will soon be preoccupied by a different type of court, one that lies in the Berlin district of Tiergarten, where his trial for alleged domestic abuse begins on 31 May. He has consistently denied the charges, which were brought by Brenda Patea, a former girlfriend, and will be heard across eight separate days falling across the French Open and Wimbledon. 

The match ended with an emotional address from Nadal to the crowd, who began chanting his name with gusto in the warm-up, and were still at it when he left the court three hours and five minutes later.

“It’s difficult for me to talk,” said Nadal, who had previously told Amélie Mauresmo, the tournament director, that he did not want a farewell sendoff at a time when he remains undecided about his future. 

“I don’t know if it’s the last time that I’m going to be here in front of all of you. Honestly, I am not 100% sure. But if it’s the last time, I enjoyed it, no? The crowd have been amazing during the whole week of preparation, and today. 

“The feelings that I have today are difficult to describe in words, but for me it’s so special to feel the love of the people the way that I felt, in the place that I love the most.”

As the red eyes of many in the crowd attested, that love is one form of magic that will never fade.

The post Rafael Nadal bids French Open a possible farewell appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Not the adoring thousands who gathered to watch his final practice on the eve of the French Open, where he has won 14 of his 24 grand slam titles. Not the incoming barrage of emotional video montages celebrating his unparalleled achievements on the Parisian clay. And certainly not the prospect of facing Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed and freshly minted Rome Masters champion, in the opening round on Monday.

“When you are not seeded, anything can happen,” said the 37-year-old Spaniard, whose protracted injury struggles have seen his ranking slip to 276 in the world. 

“Of course, on paper it is not the best draw. I play against one of the toughest opponents possible and, at the same time, he came here winning the last event, and it’s a Masters 1000. That’s the draw. Just try to be ready for it.

“You know, it’s a super-tough first round. Maybe I go [and] repeat the disaster of Rome. It’s a possibility, of course. I don’t want to hide that.”

The aforementioned disaster was a resounding defeat by Hubert Hurkacz at the Foro Italico a fortnight ago, a humbling outcome for a player who has won 10 times in the Italian capital. Yet, for all the setbacks Nadal has suffered over the course of a swing he once dominated, there is a growing sense of optimism that he may not be done quite yet. He has looked stronger by the week since his return from the hip and abdominal problems that cost him the better part of 15 months, and as his freedom of movement has grown, so too has his belief. 

“I have less limitations than three, four weeks ago, without a doubt,” said Nadal. “My personal feelings are better now than one month and a half ago, without a doubt.”

It was at that stage that Nadal marked his return to clay with a straight-sets defeat to Alex de Minaur in Barcelona. An emotional farewell followed at the Madrid Open, where he was soundly beaten by Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, but Nadal eschewed a similar sendoff in Rome, refusing to discount entirely the possibility of a return. On Saturday, he offered another sliver of hope to his legion of fans that this may not, after all, be his final French Open.

“It’s a big, big chance that it’s going to be my last Roland Garros, but if I have to tell you it’s 100% my last Roland Garros, sorry, but I will not, because I cannot predict what’s going on,” he said. 

“I have been going through a long process of recovery with a very difficult injury, almost two years of suffering… [it] seems like I feel better now.

“So in some ways, I don’t want to close 100% the door.

“First thing, I am enjoying playing tennis. Second thing, I am traveling with the family. They are enjoying [it]. I am enjoying sharing all this process with them.

“And third thing, I was not able to explore yet the proper way how I will be able to play [in] more or less healthy conditions, playing without limitations. So give me some time. 

“Maybe in one month and a half I say, ‘Ok, It’s enough. I can’t keep going.’ But today, in some way, I cannot guarantee that it’s going to be the last one. But of course, it’s a big chance.”  

Victory over Zverev on Monday would doubtless have some influence on Nadal’s decision, and to judge from the reaction of the hordes who gathered for his practice session against Holger Rune on Saturday, he will not want for support. As the 10,000-seat stadium reverberated to chants of his name, Nadal received an early taste of the atmosphere he can expect against Zverev in two days’ time. The German, whose last experience of facing Nadal on Court Philippe Chatrier came two years ago, when he ruptured ankle ligaments, is under no illusions about what to expect.

“For me, in my mind I’m going to play peak Rafa Nadal,” said Zverev. “That’s what I expect him to be. I expect him to be at his absolute best. I expect him to play the best tennis he’s played in a long time on this court.”

Nadal himself remains characteristically circumspect.

“[I hope] to do something different and play much better and give myself a chance to play competitively,” said the Spaniard. “Then it’s going to be enough or not.  

“I [haven’t] played five-set matches since super long time ago. I didn’t play at this level of opponents being competitive since a super-long time ago. “So all these questions that I understand that you are [asking] me, I am asking to myself, too. But the answer is going to be on Monday, no? That’s it.”

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After weeks of uncertainty over Nadal’s prospects of competing at the tournament, there was an audible murmur of disbelief at the draw ceremony as Zverev, the fourth seed, was confirmed as the 14-time champion’s first opponent. 

It was clear the unseeded Spaniard would face a top-eight player from the moment his name emerged at the top of the second quarter of the draw, but Zverev represents one of the toughest assignments he could have landed. The contest will be a rematch of their ill-fated semi-final of two years ago, which ended with the German Olympic champion rupturing ankle ligaments late in the second set after more than three hours of mesmerising play.

Much has changed in the interim. Nadal is now languishing at 276 in the rankings after struggling to overcome abdominal and hip problems that have brought him to the brink of retirement. Zverev, meanwhile, fresh from winning his biggest title in almost three years in Rome last week, appears to have put his injury woes firmly behind him. 

To judge from his recent comments about Nadal’s French Open prospects, however, the German is unlikely to be lulled into a false sense of security by his opponent’s relatively modest record of five wins from eight outings in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome.

“Rafa is going to play a lot better than he did in Madrid and Rome,” said Zverev at the Italian Open last week. “I’m certain about that.”

Many will balk at the possibility of the German bringing the curtain down on Nadal’s Roland Garros career, given that the 27-year-old’s trial for alleged domestic abuse begins in the Tiergarten district court in Berlin on 31 May. Zverev, who is not required to attend the proceedings, has consistently denied the charges.

Nadal, whose proud record of having never lost two consecutive clay-court matches will be on the line after his defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in Rome, is likely to take a measured view of the situation, much as he did when he was drawn in the same half as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in 2021. 

“That’s part of the game,” Nadal said then. “That’s how the ranking works. I mean, there is not one sport that is more fair than tennis on that. 

“There is a ranking. The seedings are made with the ranking that you had during the last year. So that’s how it is.”

A possible source of consolation for the Spaniard is that, should he somehow find a way past Zverev, his path through the top half would begin to look a fraction less daunting. David Goffin, ranked 115, is a possible second-round opponent, and from there he could expect to face Tallon Griekspoor, the 26th seed, followed by a pair of former quarter-finalists in Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev. The odds remain stacked against a deep run, but Nadal has performed too many miracles in the 16th arrondissement to regard Zverev’s progress as a foregone conclusion. 

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and top seed, will open his bid for a record 25th grand slam title against French wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert. In the lower half of the draw, Jannik Sinner, seeded second, faces Christopher Eubanks of the United States, while Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, plays former finalist Andy Murray in a battle of three-time grand slam champions.

In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek will begin her title defence against a qualifier ahead of a potential second-round meeting with Naomi Osaka, who opens against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. The Polish world No 1, vying for a fourth title on the Parisian clay, has landed in the opposite half of the draw to Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, who has won four of their six previous encounters, most recently in the semi-finals of last month’s Stuttgart Open. 

“I love this place, so I’m always excited to come back,” said Swiatek at the draw ceremony. “It feels like home.”

If the seedings hold, Swiatek will play Coco Gauff, the US Open champion, in the last four, in what would be a repeat of the 2022 final. First, though, the 22-year-old would potentially need to navigate a last-16 meeting with Barbora Krejcikova, the champion of three summers ago, followed by a quarter-final showdown with either Marketa Vondrousova, a finalist in 2019, or Danielle Collins, who is playing some of the finest tennis of her career in her final season on tour. Gauff will open against a qualifier, while Rybakina plays Greet Minnen of Belgium.

Aryna Sabalenka props up the lower half of the draw. The second seed will open her challenge for a second straight major, following her successful title defence at the Australian Open in January, against Erika Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian ranked 101. The Belarusian, a semi-finalist last year, is expected to face Maria Sakkari, the Greek sixth seed, before disputing a place in the final with Rybakina.

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Earlier this week at the Rome Masters, however, Nadal took a rare tumble – although, had you blinked, the moment might have passed you by, such was the swiftness with which he recovered. In one fluid movement, the Spaniard slipped to the clay, rolled on his backside, and sprang to his feet, ready to resume battle with Zizou Bergs, a Belgian qualifier ranked 108 in the world. 

It certainly felt like a metaphor for something; quite what, it was hard to tell. Decline or resurgence? Rise or fall? 

On the plus side, Nadal went on to win both the point, which he punctuated with a delicious winning drop shot, and the match, prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 54 minutes. Not bad for a banged-up 37-year-old supposedly chasing a last hurrah at an event he has won a record 10 times – particularly given that he hit the deck just three shots into the 17-stroke exchange. 

More broadly, however, Nadal’s game, like his body, remains a work in progress. Striving to work within the physical limitations imposed by the hip and abdominal injuries that have brought him to the brink of retirement, he struggled against Bergs and was brutally exposed 48 hours later by Hubert Hurkacz, the seventh seed, in a match that promised answers but only begged more questions. 

The most immediate puzzle is where Nadal finds himself – physically, mentally, and in tennis terms – after suffering a dispiriting 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Hurkacz, a player whose most notable achievement came not on clay, but on the grass of Wimbledon’s Centre Court, where he mauled Roger Federer three summers ago to reach a maiden grand slam semi-final. Looking further ahead, will the Spaniard play at Roland Garros, the scene of 14 of his 22 grand slam title triumphs, a decision he said he would base on how well he performed in Rome? And broadening the outlook still further, might he even play on into next year?

For now, even Nadal seems to have no answers. After last week’s emotional farewell in Madrid, tournament organisers in Rome had a similar sendoff planned. But having looped one last forehand over the baseline, signalling the end of his resistance, Nadal left the court in double-quick time, pausing briefly to wave to the crowd before flinging a towel into the stands and disappearing down the tunnel. Asked afterwards about his rapid departure, he teased the possibility that he may not have contested his final match at the Foro Italico. 

“I never said [it was] going to be my last tournament here,” said Nadal, who has already confounded expectations that he would bow out at the summer Olympics in Paris by committing to play in September’s Laver Cup in Berlin. 

“I said [that] in Madrid, because that was that case. Here, I am not 100% sure. Was probably 98%, but I will not say 100% when it is not 100%. Different feeling here than Madrid. Different story. Different kind of moment for me. I don’t know. I didn’t expect any ceremony, honestly.” 

While the altitude in Madrid makes for a quicker playing environment, rendering the event something of an outlier on the European clay-court swing, the conditions in Rome are closer to those at Roland Garros. Are we then to divine that Nadal has not ruled out another assault on Paris next season? Why else would he leave open the possibility, however slim, of returning to the Foro Italico? And does the chance of a tilt at next year’s French Open make an appearance in the 16th arrondissement a fortnight from now more likely, or less?

“Now is two ways,” said Nadal. “Probably one is to say, ‘OK, I am not ready, I am not playing well enough.’ Then is the moment to take a decision in terms of not playing Roland Garros. Another is to accept how I am today and work the proper way to try to be in a different way in two weeks. The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind. 

“But if I have to say what’s my feeling, and if my mind is closer one way or the other way, I’m going to say, ‘Be in Roland Garros and try my best.’ Physically I have some issues, but probably not yet enough to say [I am] not playing in the most important event of my tennis career.”

On the evidence of his performance against Hurkacz, that sounds about right. Having played with the handbrake on in Barcelona and Madrid, where he sought to ease his body back into the rigours of competitive play, avoiding the kind of setback he suffered at January’s Brisbane International, Nadal acknowledged before his first career meeting with the 27-year-old Pole that the time had come to shift gears. 

“I need to try, I need to go for everything,” he said. “If something happens, something happens… I need to prove [to] myself if I am able to push my body to the limit that I need to push to feel myself ready for what’s coming.”

And push he did, not least in the opening two games, where he fashioned five break points, added 7mph to the average speed of his forehand compared with the previous round, and moved with renewed sharpness and freedom. With Hurkacz struggling to tame Nadal’s ferocious topspin and nervously spraying forehands long, 14 minutes elapsed before the Pole finally held serve for 1-0. By the time Nadal levelled, saving the second of two break points with a vintage inside-out forehand, a further 13 minutes had passed. In blazing heat, it was shaping up to be a long afternoon.

And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. Hurkacz held to love in barely a minute, then engineered a break with some devastating play off the ground. He settled into a relentless rhythm on serve, routinely landing his first delivery at 128mph. More surprisingly, he also began to eclipse the Spaniard off the forehand, which he struck with such rare potency and consistency that he would end the afternoon with more winners and fewer unforced errors off that wing than Nadal.

Meanwhile, the former world No 1 compounded his difficulties with some poor decision-making. Twice he missed drop shots when break point down. On the first occasion, Nadal half-raised his arm in a gesture of mild frustration; on the second, his anger was palpable, the Spaniard whacking a ball into his thigh. It was an uncharacteristic reaction, but then unusual things happen when you have barely played in 18 months. Tennis is a game of repetition, of muscle memory, of feeling and sensation; it is about knowing you can execute a certain shot under pressure because you did it last time, last week, last month. For all the experience he has banked over the years, Nadal doesn’t have those sensations right now.

So the old certainties are not what they were. Against Bergs, Nadal had to fight tooth and nail to avoid suffering two consecutive defeats on clay for the first time in his career. Everything he did well in some moments, he also struggled with in others. His consistency of shot, focus, and physical and mental intensity all fluctuated. That happens when you are feeling your way back into competition after having part of your psoas tendon removed, as Nadal did when he underwent surgery on his hip last summer. And while he is improving from match to match – and did so once more against Hurkacz – uncertainty inevitably leads to inconsistency. 

“I need to accept that my level, it’s a little bit more on and off,” said Nadal. “It’s not like [it] used to be, that everything was very stable. I need to find this stability again.”

Stability eluded Nadal in Rome, where he slipped again in the early stages against Hurkacz. Second time around, he was unable to recover. The question now is whether he can find his feet in time for Roland Garros.

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This time, though, the chorus was less a war cry than a mournful murmur: “Ra-fa, Ra-fa, Ra-fa.”

Minutes earlier, Rafael Nadal’s final match on Spanish soil had ended in a 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Jiri Lehecka, a muscular, square-jawed Czech 15 years his junior. Now, as the soft hum of the crowd subsided and his wife, Xisca, and sister, María Isabel, looked on through a veil of tears, Nadal stepped forward to address the crowd.

“This is a joke,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Next year, I am coming back.”

On a night rich with emotion, it was not the only moment that leavened the sadness of Nadal’s farewell to Madrid. Up in the rafters of the Estadio Manolo Santana, five banners were unfurled, one for each of the 37-year-old’s Madrid Open victories; to his evident amusement, the first and fifth temporarily got stuck halfway down. Not to worry: three titles would still be as many as anyone else has managed in the Spanish capital. And if Nadal needed a reminder of his other two wins, there was always the video montage that, he said, made him feel like his title triumphs, the last of which came in 2017, happened in another lifetime. 

The reality, of course, is that he will almost certainly not be back. The injuries that have plagued him throughout his career, of which the abdominal and hip issues that have hampered him for the better part of two years are merely the latest manifestation, have left an indelible mark. Lehecka is the first player ranked outside the top 20 to defeat Nadal on a clay court since Pablo Cuevas, who accomplished the feat at the 2016 Rio Open. Nadal nonetheless leaves Madrid with a suitcase of memories and the knowledge that, with four straight matches under his belt for the first time since the 2022 US Open, his form and fitness are improving.

There is more to come, most immediately at next week’s Italian Open, the next stop on a road that, if Nadal feels he can be competitive, will lead to Roland Garros, where he has won 14 of his 22 grand slam titles. Beyond that lie the Paris Olympics, where he is expected to partner Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles, and September’s Laver Cup in Berlin. For now, though, a chapter has closed. 

“This is a difficult day when it arrives, but it’s a reality,” Nadal told the crowd. “My body and my life had been sending me signs for some time. I was able to say goodbye playing on this court, one of the most emotional ones for me. Madrid at times has been more important to me than a grand slam. The memories here will stay with me forever.

“I have been lucky to have been able to turn a hobby into a job and do it well. I feel very lucky. I can’t ask for anything more.

“I can only thank everyone who has helped me in my career at some point. It’s not over yet, but here it is. It’s a gift that you have given for 21 years.

“I hope I have been able to be a good example for the new generations. That is more important than the titles. I hope I have generated positive emotions. The only thing I can say is thank you. I can’t say anything else; what I feel is this.”

Lehecka joked beforehand that, as the higher-ranked player, he would naturally go into the match as favourite. Yet many a true word is spoken in jest and, as he whistled through his opening three service games for the loss of just three points, landing hammer blows with his forehand and averaging 138mph on his first serve, the scale of the challenge facing Nadal quickly became clear. 

The Spaniard nonetheless held firm, showing no evidence of any physical hangover from his three-hour duel with Pedro Cachin barely 24 hours earlier, and in the eighth game a double fault from Lehecka gifted him the first break point of the contest. The Czech appeared to greet that as a wake-up call, smoking one of 13 forehand winners on the night, and in short space he embarked on a run of five straight games – and 14 consecutive points – to move ahead by a set and a break. 

Nadal remained characteristically defiant, fending off three break points to avoid falling a double break behind, and he would remain in touch to the last. At 5-4, Lehecka walked out to serve for the biggest win of his career and was met by a wall of sound. As the crowd rose to acclaim their hero, the clamour was deafening, chants of “Si, se puede!” – “Yes, we can!” – raining down from the stands. The Czech faltered for the first time, looping a forehand long. But his assurance at the net, another hallmark of an excellent night’s work, soon carried him over the line. As Nadal strode forward to shake hands, emotion was writ large on the faces of his family.

“I tried not to look at them,” said Nadal, “because I don’t want them to cry for me, even if it’s an emotional day. It’s not my last match, I’m not retiring yet, just saying goodbye to a very special place for me.

“Things need to keep going for me. I don’t know when it’s going to be my last match, but I don’t want to become too emotional, because I want to try to keep going for a while and just try to keep focused on my path.

“It’s a night that’s going to stay in my heart forever, but at the same time I try to be strong enough to keep going, because it’s not yet enough.” 

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Deep in the third set, with exactly three hours gone, Rafael Nadal unleashed a trio of crosscourt forehands, each a little wider and more devastating than the last. 

As he connected with the third, all the familiar ingredients were in place: the immaculate balance, the violent torque, the flashing, whiplash follow-through. Everyone in the Estadio Manolo Santana knew what was coming, not least Pedro Cachin, who could only watch and applaud as the ball fizzed past at an acute angle.

Fist clenched, three points from victory, Nadal whirled around, casting a determined look towards his family, seated just a few feet away. For the past 16 months, through all the interminable hours of rehabilitation from the hip and abdominal injuries that have brought him to the brink of retirement, the dream of living such moments has sustained him. Now it was happening: the primal roar of the adoring home crowd in his ears; another fine run at an event that has meant so much to him; his 18-month-old son Rafael, cradled in the arms of his wife, Xisca, looking on. 

Forced to reserve his maximum efforts for the moments of greatest need, to hold back where once he would have pushed, Nadal is not, for the time being, all that he once was. He may never be again, as he has openly acknowledged. But in that instant, we saw a glimpse of the true Nadal: the king of clay; the winner of five Madrid Open titles; the 14-time champion of Roland Garros. And it is for the unalloyed joy of such moments that he has returned. Other issues can wait – at least until Tuesday morning, when he will get a clearer sense of the toll exacted on his battered 37-year-old body by an epic 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over the 91st-ranked Cachin. 

It is a position Nadal has found himself in all too often in his injury-plagued career, most recently at the turn of the year in Brisbane, when he returned after almost 12 months on the sidelines only to suffer a fresh setback in a quarter-final loss to Jordan Thompson. Three matches into his latest comeback, and for all the encouragement offered by a straight-sets win over world No 11 Alex de Minaur in the previous round, Nadal is taking nothing for granted.

“Now I don’t feel that something went wrong on my body, but I need to wait until tomorrow, being 100% honest,” said Nadal, who will try to do it all over again against Jiri Lehecka, the big-hitting Czech world No 31, on Tuesday night.  

“In Brisbane, after the match with Jordan Thompson, I felt something there, but I hoped in the press conference, I had the faith, that nothing wrong happened. 

“Then, when I woke up the day after, my feelings were [different]. So I needed to do all the process, the MRI, and it showed I have a small tear there.

“I don’t have that negative feeling now, like I had in that moment, but nobody knows what can happen during the night and how I wake up tomorrow morning. 

“And that’s the truth, no? I’m not saying that because I’m trying to protect myself, I am talking with my heart and saying exactly the feelings that I have right now.”

While the focus will naturally fall on Nadal’s physical condition, the outcome was determined, as tennis matches almost always are, by the mind rather than the body. 

Facing one of the all-time greats in his own backyard, Cachin struggled to look beyond the man and the moment, starting nervously and then faltering repeatedly when opportunity beckoned. Twice the 29-year-old served for the second set only to be undone by a combination of double faults, narrowly missed lines and poor shot selection. Then, in the ensuing tiebreak, Cachin forged ahead three times only to be reeled in on each occasion.

To his credit, the Argentine eventually converted his third set point with a brilliant crosscourt return. But with Nadal’s physical limitations beginning to show, Cachin was making heavy weather of things. Admittedly, he showed impressive resolve to claw back a break early in the decider. But did he truly believe he could defeat Nadal? His touching request for a keepsake when the pair shook hands afterwards perhaps offered a clue.

“You made my dream come true for me, thank you,” said Cachin. “It’s not how the protocol is, but can I get your shirt, towel or something?”

“Yes, I’ll give it to you, of course,” Nadal replied. “Good luck with everything.”

It was a heart-warming moment, but it came only after Nadal had displayed the steel of a man for whom the game no longer holds any secrets. He played within himself to control the early stages. He fought every inch of the way when Cachin belatedly showed up. And when it most mattered, he found the conviction of a champion. 

Whether he can reprise those heroics less than 24 hours later remains to be seen. Lehecka’s heavy ball-striking is of a different order to anything Nadal has faced in his three matches so far. But that, as he pointed out, was a question for another day. 

“Let’s wait for tomorrow,” said Nadal. “I hope nothing happens, and I hope to be on court tomorrow.”

All of Spain, and the vast majority of the wider tennis world, will share that hope.

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