Nadal fell in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp, putting the continuation of his tennis career in the hands of his fellow Spaniards.
Carlos Alcaraz took down Tallon Griekspoor to level things up before the Dutch duo of Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhoff won the doubles to dump Spain out of the Davis Cup.
It wasn’t the perfect ending to Nadal’s legendary career, a legendary career which boasts very few ‘imperfect’ moments.
Rafael Nadal was fined $2000 by Wimbledon officials for coaching in 2010
Back in 2010, Nadal was facing off against Philipp Petzschener in the third round of Wimbledon, when he received the biggest punishment of his career.
The Spaniard was given a code violation at the time for allegedly receiving advice from his coach, Toni Nadal during his five-set win over Petzschener.
Both player and coach denied the allegations, arguing that it was encouragement and not advice, but the excuses fell on deaf ears as Nadal was fined for the first and only time in his career.
It may have been the only time Nadal was fined, but he got pretty close on several occasions, perhaps most notably in 2018 when time violations nearly cost him $20,000.
Again at Wimbledon, Nadal was given two, time violation warnings by umpire Carlos Bernardes in a straight sets win over Mikhail Kukushkin.
The Spaniard was lucky to avoid a fine, which could have seen him fork out $20,000.
Andy Murray praises Rafael Nadal for never breaking a racket in his tennis career
On the whole, Nadal’s career was about as squeaky clean as you can possibly get, garnering a reputation for respect, having never smashed a racket during his time on tour.
Nadal’s friend and former rival Andy Murray, did however reveal that the Spaniard was prone to a bout of rage every once in a while, in the world of gaming.
“You’re probably the only tennis player ever to have never thrown their racket in anger, which is incredible,” he said.
“However this wasn’t the case when you would lose at PlayStation.
“I’ve seen Rafa [Nadal] throwing PlayStation controllers around hotel rooms all over the world when he and his close friend Juan Monaco would lose a late goal to me with his beloved Real Madrid on Pro Evolution Soccer.”
Nadal’s temperament might just be the greatest ever seen on the ATP Tour, even if he did let his emotions get the better of him on PlayStation.
