“Gracias Rafa” – words plastered on signs all over the city of Malaga in the south of Spain, where Rafael Nadal is set to play the final event of his professional career, alongside his compatriots at the Davis Cup Finals.
The Malaga City Council and its tourism arm, Costa del Sol Malaga, have launched a campaign this week to honour the Spanish icon, with “Gracias Rafa” posters and electronic LED screens set up all over town, in main squares and metro stations.
The campaign also includes a massive 2.6sqm banner on the exterior of the Ciudad de Malaga Athletics Stadium, emblazoned with those words of gratitude for the country’s national hero.
A few metres across from that stadium lies the Martin Carpena Arena, the host of the ongoing Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and the Davis Cup Final 8, which kicks off with the highly-anticipated quarter-final tie between Spain and the Netherlands on Tuesday.
“Everybody is excited to play Spain. It's amazing that it might be the last match that Nadal plays, and we hope to give him a nice adios,” said Netherlands team captain Paul Haarhuis on Sunday, with a deadpan expression on his face that sent his players into laughter.
The Dutch players are well aware that this is no ordinary Davis Cup tie and the huge banner across the street is enough of a reminder of the kind of support Nadal will get once he steps on court on Tuesday.
“Rafa retiring here of course brings something special to the occasion. It's been already a couple of weeks I think it's living in the tennis world,” said Botic van de Zandschulp, who would be Nadal’s opponent should Spain decide to use him in singles.
“Also with [Carlos] Alcaraz here, you have some big names in the other team. So really looking forward to the tie, and let's see how the madness is going to be.”
While it’s safe to assume Alcaraz will play singles against the Dutch team’s No 1 player Tallon Griekspoor, it remains unclear whether Nadal will be given precedence over Roberto Bautista Agut and Pedro Martinez in the other singles clash.
Nadal hasn’t played a professional singles match since the Paris Olympics in July (he took part in the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh last month) but looked sharp during a hit with Australia’s Alex de Minaur in Malaga on Sunday.
It’s rare to see inter-team training sessions at the Davis Cup, and it was quite the surprise when journalists arrived at the practice facility to catch Alcaraz hit with Bautista Agut, only to find Nadal sparring with De Minaur on the adjacent court.
It was a special moment that united five different former world No 1s, with Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt, Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya, standing on the sidelines as Nadal and Alcaraz were put through their paces.
Nadal’s imminent retirement has understandably overshadowed everything else happening in Malaga and Tuesday’s match against the Netherlands was sold out the moment the Spaniard announced he would be participating in the event.
Nadal’s biggest rival, Novak Djokovic, has said he will be making the trip down to Malaga to bid him farewell and it’s likely many more stars will turn up for the occasion.
A selfie with Nadal has been a highly sought-after bucket list item so far this week. Italian world No 4 Jasmine Paolini has been regularly posting on her social media a progress update on her mission to take a photo with the 22-time Grand Slam champion. She has so far got as close as the sidelines of one of his practice sessions on centre court at the arena.
The Australian Billie Jean King Cup team staged a group photo in Nadal’s path just so they could ask him to join them in the photo. The Mallorcan, of course, obliged.
In an interview with Nadal posted by the Spanish Tennis Federation, he said he prepared as best he can for the Davis Cup and is approaching this week with the hopes to “close this beautiful and long chapter of his life with final moments of excitement, but with a degree of normalcy as well”.
It’s fair to say that nothing will be normal about this week’s farewell as Spain, and tennis, bid adieu to an extraordinary figure.
