invisible tears, empty spaces and a final plea | Relief

Malaga.-Rafael Nadal He left Center Court Martin Karpena at 7:12 p.m. hours on Tuesday after losing the final game of his career. However, He still had time left in his professional tennis career, namely four hours and 40 minutes.time elapsed before Spain departed at 00:02 Wednesday.

From now on, Nadal He officially became an additional player. It was a completely strange four hours and 40 minutes for the champion. of 22 Grand Slam tournaments. To begin with, he lived them knowing that his pension no longer depended on him, but on the rackets of Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers. And continue because His last moments as a professional tennis player were not running on the court, but sitting. in the stands

“Carlos! Cheer the crowd!” Nadal shouted to Alcaraz from the bench. “Marcel, you too!”“,” he insisted to Granollers. The doubles match, the defining moment after Nadal’s defeat and Alcaraz’s win in the two singles matches, was to be decided by three pieces and the Balearic Islands. I wanted to make fun of the slightly decaffeinated audience.

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After weeks of exorbitant resale ticket prices being published time and time again, “Martin Carpena” in Malaga did not look complete in farewell to Nadal. Already in the match in Manacori there were several dozen empty seats, which became even more noticeable at the end of the doubles. There, when the clock struck Wednesday, hundreds of unoccupied chairs were already being counted.

Ana Maria’s inconsolable cry

Where no one moved were the rows immediately behind the Spanish bench. Nadal’s whole family and team were there.: There was Xiska, his wife; Maribel, his sister; Ana Maria and Sebastia, his parents; Carlos Costa, his agent; Rafa Maimo, his physiotherapist; Benito Perez-Barbadillo, his press director; Mark Lopez and Gustavo Marcaccio, two of his trainers; Nuria Granados, her nutritionist; Joan Forcades, his strength and conditioning coach; Francis Roig, one of his former coaches. There were only two people missing: Carlos Moya, who was on the track; And This is Uncle Tony, the great absentee. According to him, because he had to work in Rome.

During the final ceremony in memory of the former tennis player, tears flowed from the eyes of many of the individuals mentioned. Maribel and Sebastia, always tough, were excited. But the cameras didn’t capture what happened in the final three doubles games. Ana Maria Parera, the mother, cried completely inconsolably because of what was about to happen.

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By that time N.Adal had already risen dozens of times from the chair in which he had lived out his end. He was the most nervous person on the bench. Spanish. He gave orders, made speeches, shouted and encouraged: “It’s a great luxury to have him,” Marcel Granollers previously said in an interview with Relevo. “Having him there can give you that help in the moment, that comment that can give you peace of mind.”

Indeed, Nadal never cut himself. Even in several changes of sides He walked over to the chair where Alcaraz, Granollers and Ferrer were sitting to give tactical instructions. Player and captain.

Documentary and request

These conversations will one day come to light when Nadal releases a documentary he is recording with his own production company about his farewell year. Because all these days in Malaga, including Tuesday, he was followed everywhere by a camera. Day of your farewell He recorded it in the tunnel, in the locker room. and also in the room where he gave his last press conference as a tennis player.

The anticipation for Nadal’s words was so great that the organization had to change the entry protocol and hand out additional tickets. Many journalists remained outside and They could not hear this last plea. it perfectly reflected his feelings: He wants to continue, but his body said enough is enough, that’s all.

“I would live it every day if I couldBut one is what I want, and the other is what I think is best for the team. It’s not because I want to, of course I want to. But I think that Considering what I’ve seen in competitions at my level, if I were captain, I wouldn’t have chosen myself.“He said, even before he knew that his farewell would take place in a few hours, that there would be no more elections.