As Rafael Nadal prepared to serve in what turned out to be the last tennis match of his career, a woman's voice broke the silence from the stands: “You make Spain proud!” Not long after that, Nadal was wiping away tears from his face and waving goodbye to his fans.

Rafael Nadal’s relatively low-key retirement ceremony at the Davis Cup has been defended by the head of the International Tennis Federation as being dictated by the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s wishe

Rafael Nadal's relatively low-key retirement ceremony at the Davis Cup was defended by the head of the International Tennis Federation on Sunday.

Hours after Nadal’s 6-4, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands was over, the evening did turn out to represent the 22-time Grand

The Davis Cup Finals in Malaga marked the conclusion of an extraordinary career as Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, played his final professional tennis match.

Novak Djokovic has shared his favourite off-court story about Rafael Nadal, while he also revealed his favourite on-court memory involving his great rival. Nadal retired from tennis after playing the last match of his staggering career at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga last week.

According to El Espanol, this was because the retirement ceremony was expected to take place on Friday - on the assumption Spain would win their quarter-final. This has attracted