A glorious sporting career came to a close in front of roaring home fans, as an emotional Rafael Nadal bid farewell to tennis. Nadal lost 6-4. 6-4 to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp at the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga in what proved to be his final competitive match as Spain went down 1-2 against Netherlands:

Here are just five standout stats from Nadal’s legendary career:

29-2: To begin where it ended, Nadal’s only TWO defeats in Davis Cup singles play came against Jiri Novak in his debut in 2004 and against van de Zandschulp in his last competitive match. As Nadal said: “We close the circle.”

912: Nadal was just 18 — and yet to win a Grand Slam title — when he first moved into the top 10 of the ATP rankings on April 25, 2005. He remained there for 912 consecutive weeks, until March 19, 2023. A span of nearly 18 full years, the longest run of appearances in the top 10 in the half-century-plus history of the computerized rankings in men’s tennis.

32 – Rafael Nadal won 32 consecutive Davis Cup matches incl. Singles and Doubles between September 2006 (v Volandri) and November 2019 (v Shapovalov): the longest winning streak in history of the competition – 10 more than the second-best. #GraciasRafa!#DavisCup | @DavisCup

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) November 19, 2024

22 Grand Slams, 14 at French Open: Second among men to Novak Djokovic’s 24. His 14 championships at the French Open are the most at any Grand Slam tournament by a man or woman. He boasts an utterly ridiculous 112-4 career win-loss record at Roland Garros. His 63 clay-court titles are also the most for a man in the Open era.

1,080-228: That win-loss career record in tour-level singles matches gives him the fourth-most wins among men in the Open era, which dates to 1968, behind Connors (1,274), Federer (1,251) and Djokovic (1,124)

23: Nadal registered 23 victories in matches against a man ranked No. 1 at the time, which is the most since ATP computerized rankings began in 1973. As Federer wrote: “Rafa, you made me enjoy the game even more. OK, maybe not at first. After the 2004 Australian Open, I achieved the #1 ranking for the first time. I thought I was on top of the world. And I was—until two months later, when you walked on the court in Miami in your red sleeveless shirt, showing off those biceps, and you beat me convincingly.”

(With AP inputs)