Rafa Nadal bids farewell to Mutua Madrid Open in emotional final match

Tennis player Rafa Nadal (EFE / Chema Moya)

What happened on Tuesday night on the Manolo Santana center court of the Caja Mágica in Madrid will go down in the history books of Spanish tennis, and world tennis, if possible. After an intense duel between Rafa Nadal and Jiri Lehecka, the Spaniard could not bear the accumulated fatigue of the previous day, in which he had faced a three-hour match against Alex de Miñaur. Every serve, every return, every setback, every parallel,… It meant a goodbye for the Spaniard on Madrid’s center court.

Rafa had said it: “It will be the last time here.” The Spanish public, nor world tennis, was prepared for Rafa’s farewell. Nobody wanted to say goodbye to the tennis player who has been the history of the sport, both inside and outside of his discipline. But Rafa could not overcome the Czech, and although he had won, Lehecka took a backseat. The stands turned to applaud Nadal, tears, laughter and Rafa’s name cheered. It was the first final goodbye for the Balearic Islands, the first time he assured 100% that he would not return.

You may be interested: Nadal says goodbye to the Mutua Madrid Open with all honors against a very inspired Lehečka

blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-media-max-width=”560″>

“This is a joke, next year I’m coming back!”

Never change, Rafael Nadal 🥺🤣@Rafael Nadal #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/yWRkXdMouQ

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 30, 2024

Five banners were taken off recognizing the tennis player’s career in the Mutua Madrid Open, where he has been proclaimed winner of the tournament five times, being the tennis player who has achieved it the most. He held a unique record of fourteen consecutive victories – on Tuesday Alcaraz equaled the figure. Rafa Nadal has made history in tennis, but also in Madrid. Grateful to the public, moved by remembering all these years, in which he assured that “it seemed like another life,” Rafa still had breath left to joke: “It was a joke. “Next year I’ll be back.”

“A few weeks ago I didn’t know if I could compete again. I have been able to play two unforgettable weeks in Spain,” Rafa began his speech by looking back, when just over two weeks ago he did not know his direction. “It has been an incredible journey since I was very little. The first time I arrived in Madrid being competitive, in 2005, I achieved one of the biggest victories of my career,” he continued, ensuring that this tournament had given him more joy than “some other Grand Slam” has given him.

An unforgettable tribute that the tournament organization prepared to bid farewell to who has been, is and always will be one of the best tennis players who has ever stepped on the Madrid clay. A video remembering Rafa’s beginnings at the Mutua Madrid Open, tears from the family, but also from all the fans who have experienced the Manacorí’s career every year. A goodbye that everyone hoped to delay, at least a little longer. A farewell that anticipates what is to come, the definitive end of the 24-time Grand Slam winner.

Farewell post from the Mutua Madrid Open to Rafa Nadal (@@MutuaMadridOpen)

It was Rafa’s last game in Spain, the last in front of a large audience that has always shown its support and admiration for a reference athlete for everyone, young and old. “If it was the last time I played in my country, it was a great memory and a great night,” he said. But, even if it were the last Spanish dance, Nada has not yet hung up her racket: “I didn’t want to make a sea of ​​tears, it was almost there, because I haven’t finished. “I have finished playing in Madrid, but I have not yet finished my journey with the racket in my hand.” The Spaniard is already preparing the next tournament in Rome, which will mark his participation – or not – in Roland Garros, and which will prepare the way for a possible Olympic Games in Paris.

2024-05-01 12:56:00
#Nadals #joke #farewell #Mutua #Madrid #Open #year #Ill