Adiós a Rafa

Rafael Nadal is officially retiring from professional tennis. His last match will be playing for Spain at the Davis Cup next month. The end has been coming for a while. He's 38 years old and has been competing intensely at tennis since he was something like 8 years old. He's suffered injuries. It's to be expected.

I didn't see Nadal play as a young man. I lost track of the game for a long time. I was all over it during the Jimmy Connors-John McEnroe days, but then I drifted away. Something brought me back in the late 2010's, and by then Nadal was a seasoned pro with all sorts of trophies. With every big tournament, I made time to see him, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.

I was partial to Federer at first. The suave, debonair Swiss star exuded class. But my friends who had stayed with tennis while I was gone kept telling me it was Rafa who was the greatest. By the end, I think it was a tie.

But watching Nadal play took some getting used to. He has this elaborate, quirky ritual he goes into before every serve. This includes not only vigorous bouncing of the ball, but also wiping often-nonexistent sweat from his brow, tucking lately nonexistent hair behind his ears, and picking his shorts out of both his butt and his groin. The first time the Mrs. and I watched him together, we both wound up howling with laughter. He was always wearing Nike gear, with his own trademark logo on it. "Why can't they get him a pair of shorts that fits, so that he doesn't have to do that?"

His opponents were never laughing, however. They were busy concentrating for when that rocket of a left-handed first serve came over the net.

One last hurrah, and then the shorts-picking will be do no more. Nadal will get to enjoy a comfortable middle age, parenthood, and I hope a blissful home life. He's always seemed to have a level head, and that should serve him well as a retired guy. Retired, famous, and rolling in dough, before 40. I can't imagine.

As for tennis, I still watch, but it's not quite the same without the Big Three. Federer's been done for a while now, and while Djokovic is a formidable foe, he's been hurt and is starting to look vulnerable. The new guys are great, and they're writing their own stories. But to become a legend like Rafa, it takes many years. I'll never see the likes of him again. Maybe no one will.