The racket has been placed back into the bag for one final time and the glorious career of Rafael Nadal has now been consigned to tennis folklore.
The end came during a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands at the Davis Cup, with the curtain dropping on a wonderful sportsman who dared to live his dream.
It was perhaps intriguing that the end came in the renowned team event. Nadal’s record at the Davis Cup was phenomenal, losing just two singles matches – the first one he played and the last.
Looking back on the career of Nadal throws up some unbelievable achievements. Everything began with a win for a 15-year-old Nadal against Ramon Delgado and the rest is pretty much history.
Nadal won a record-shattering 14 titles at the French Open, a total of 92 singles titles in total and also won each of the other three Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal.
However, plenty of people will often discuss his rivalry with Roger Federer. The pair had many a great battle down the years but the Swiss legend does have an intriguing opinion on when the Spaniard was in his prime.
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Toni Nadal and Roger Federer disagree on when Rafael Nadal was in his prime
It’s a friendly debate whenever it’s discussed but truly discovering when Nadal was in his prime is pretty tricky to do given how long he was one of the dominant figures in the game.
Toni – the uncle of Nadal and his former coach – believes that 2008 was the pinnacle for his nephew and coincidently that was the year he first became the world number one.
According to The Athletic, Nadal believes that 2008 when Rafael won the French Open and Wimbledon was one of his all-career peaks, with 2010 – when he won three Grand Slams.
Federer, however, disagrees and instead believed that when he beat him in five sets in the final of the Australian Open in 2009 was when he was playing his best.
At that time, Federer said, as per The Athletic: “I tell friends about that match and say I could have won, maybe should have won, but I felt like there he was properly unreal. In that particular moment I looked across and thought, ‘Oh my God, this guy is crazy good’.”
Nadal vs Federer is a rivalry for the ages and tennis will never see better
The rivalry between two of the three greatest players to ever swing a racket in anger will not be seen again in professional tennis.
Naturally, more rivalries and intriguing storylines will develop but none will be as enthrallingly brilliant as Federer and Nadal was.
The pair slogged it out for hours on end across their careers and they did it with the utmost respect for each other as professional tennis players.
Federer’s elegance and ability to return, combined with the spirited persona of Nadal made for a truly poetic affair each time the duo graced a tennis court together.
It’s so sad that Nadal has decided to bow out in such underwhelming circumstances but at least now we can truly look back and appreciate the era where he was going toe-to-toe with Federer as an amazing time be a tennis fan.
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