Rafael Nadal's final victory was keeping Father Time at bay for 20 years

In a storybook world, Rafael Nadal would have led Spain on one last, rollicking ride to a seventh Davis Cup title before the delirious home fans in Malaga. But in a storybook world, Roger Federer would have won his last Wimbledon final in 2019. Serena Williams would have gone all the way at her last US Open in 2022. And while we all remember Jimmy Connors wrapping the US Open around his index finger at age 39 in 1991, the less-magical reality is that he came back the next year and lost in the second round.

In October, Nadal announced that this Davis Cup Final would be his last professional event. But as he said before Spain’s tie with the Netherlands on Tuesday, he didn’t want it just to be about history and memories. He wanted to help the team win.

The truth is that nobody ever wants to arrive at this moment. Rafael Nadal

Which left Spain’s captain, David Ferrer, with a difficult question to answer: What was the best role for the 2024 version of Rafa?

On the one hand, Nadal was 29-1 in Davis Cup singles match, and hadn’t lost a match in the competition since his first one, 20 years ago. He was also 2-0 against his likely Dutch opponent, Botic van de Zandschulp. And, most important, he was still Rafa. Nobody could turn it on for a big match at home like he could.

On the other hand, Nadal is 38 years old and ranked 155th. His 2024 season hadn’t been anything close to the rousing farewell tour he had hoped for. Hip and abdominal injuries dogged him through a series of early-round losses, which meant he never played enough to shake off the rust. Even Roland Garros wasn’t a refuge from the indignities of age.

All of which made it a surprise when Ferrer announced that, rather than giving him the less-taxing assignment of a doubles match, he was putting Rafa into the singles against van de Zandschulp. Had Ferrer seen a flash of the old brilliance while watching him in practice? Or did he just believe that Rafa, whatever his current level, would find a way to summon his best in his swan-song moment?

Whatever Ferrer’s reasons were for sticking with his old friend, it didn’t work.

Nadal was good enough to stay with van de Zandschulp through the first eight games. He was good enough to give us a shiver of déjà vu with an acrobatic, over-the-shoulder backhand volley, and a forehand hit from above his head, while he was running the other way.

But Rafa, who has never liked indoor tennis, wasn’t good enough to impose his will from the baseline, or attack the net with success. Van de Zandschulp pinned him back in rallies and passed him when he came forward. Nadal did make a late run when the Dutchman tightened up, but like everything else about his 2024 season, the winning moment didn’t last.

Van de Zandschulp idolized Nadal growing up; now it was his duty to end his career. He did it quickly and fairly painlessly, with a final hold that ended when Rafa sent a futile slice forehand into the net.

“The truth is that nobody ever wants to arrive at this moment,” Nadal said. “I’m not tired of playing tennis, but it’s my body that doesn’t want to play anymore, so I have to accept the situation.”

Nadal’s successor, Carlos Alcaraz, had a chance to rescue Rafa and keep his career alive for another day. He did his part in singles by beating Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor. But he couldn’t do it again in doubles. Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers lost in two tiebreakers to van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof. Ironically, it was the 35-year-old Koolhof, who is also retiring this week, who may have played the best tennis of anyone in the tie.

“I lost my first match in the Davis Cup, and I lost my last one,” Nadal said with a smile. “So we close the circle.”

Rafa’s first Davis Cup matches happened in 2004, when he was 17, but they’ve always stayed in my memory. I had seen him play before, including live at the US Open and in Miami, and I recognized that his intensity, effort, desire and ebullience were something new in tennis. But I was still stunned by how emotional he was playing for his country. He leaped higher into the air after winning points than he did anywhere else. He fell to the court, nearly in tears, after his victories. And he was every bit as excitable as he cheered on his teammates from the sidelines. He was a one-man, teenage, energy generator.

At the same time, Rafa’s game didn’t quite look ready for prime time. His serve lacked pop—“it was the worst on tour,” he would say later, only half-joking. His backhand needed to be smoothed out, and he often left it short. Even his forehand was more about spin than pace. In his first tie, against the Czech Republic, Rafa lost to Jiri Novak in straight sets, and then he and Tommy Robredo lost in doubles, also in straight sets.

Was it too much, too soon for young Rafa? Not exactly. With the tie knotted at 2-2 on the final day, Spain’s captain stuck with him, and Nadal rewarded him with his first Davis Cup win, over Radek Stepanek, to clinch the tie. At the end of 2004, he would lead Spain to its second Cup victory, and he wouldn’t lose another singles match until today.

Nadal’s win against the Czechs seemed to me a victory not of superior skill, but of superior will. And that’s one way I’ll remember his career. He would improve his serve, but it never won him a ton of easy points, the way Roger Federer’s did. He would improve his backhand, but it was never a match for Novak Djokovic’s. Rafa triumphed with emotion first, and over the next 20 years he would show how far that can take an athlete.

But it couldn’t take him past 2024. Even Nadal couldn’t will his body to work like it once did. That it took 20 years for time to finally catch up should count as Rafa’s final victory.