Rafael Nadal ending ‘not what anyone would have wanted’

Rafael Nadal did not get the career end he deserved, says Mark Petchy, but he thinks it’s a matter of time before a new send-off comes the Spaniard’s way.

Nadal officially retired at the Davis Cup Finals this year while representing Spain. It was a relatively meek end for a career that scaled such incredible heights, and it came after a bleak last couple of years with injuries.

The 22-time Major winner battled foot, hip, and abdominal injuries for the final two years of his career and was never able to string enough matches together to make anything like an effective comeback.

Such a glorious career definitely deserved a more storied end, but Petchy says that’s just the nature of sports.

“Unfortunately, these are not Hollywood scripts,” Petchy told Betway. “At the end of the day, they’re real-life stories.

“The ending wasn’t quite what everyone who witnessed his triumphs would have wanted but I genuinely believe that they’ll be another send-off that will magnify just how great he’s been.

“I would imagine they’ll be another rapid tribute that will feel more meaningful to all of us in terms of what he has done to our lives, not just to tennis, but to everybody’s lives. It has been phenomenal to watch somebody that changed the game.”

Nadal will now ponder his next move, something he appears to be doing largely from the golf course in his native Mallorca.

He has been tipped to follow Andy Murray into coaching, but for now he is happy to just sit back and appreciate all he has achieved.

“The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially,” he said ahead of his final match in October. “I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make.

“But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end, and I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.