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.
His farewell from tennis was as emotional as expected when it came in Malaga on Tuesday, too soon for most. Nadal deliberately set up his swansong on a home court but Spain was eliminated in the Davis Cup quarterfinals and he and they couldn't complete his exalted career with a win.
It was also heart-wrenching for his fans across Spain as they saw one of the country's very best - arguably its greatest sportsperson ever - finally call it quits.
"It's clear that Rafa is the best athlete ever in Spain. He is on a different level than everyone else, by far," Feliciano Lopez, a former tennis player and the tournament director of the Davis Cup Finals, told The Associated Press. "No disrespect to all other Spanish athletes, and we have very good ones, but no one has been able to inspire the fans the same way that Rafa did."
