He also spent his entire career battling his own body, with Nadal’s injuries both acute and chronic carving the trajectory of his career and to an extent the way he played tennis. King of clay. Warrior.

It was an emotional farewell from tennis for Nadal this week after Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup in Malaga

Spain’s Davis Cup captain David Ferrer has explained his decision to select Rafael Nadal to play singles in his legendary countryman’s farewell event. The former world No 3 declared he was “confident that Rafa is a competitive beast” and added he “had to give him that opportunity.