Rafael Nadal’s retirement from tennis leaves his wife Maria ‘Xisca’ Perello in tears, as she watches on with son Rafa Jr

While Rafael Nadal hit his last ball on a professional tennis court, as part of a Spanish team was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup by the Yesterday his family struggled to contain their emotions as they watched from the stands.

The The 38-year-old lost his singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp and received a standing ovation from tennis fans as he walked to the net – and watched the sun finally set on his stellar tennis career.

In the stands of Malaga’s stadium, those close to him – including his 36-year-old wife Maria Francisca Perello, known as ‘Xisca’ – burst into tears.

Besides Rafa himself, the star of the show was his two-year-old son Rafa Jr, who cheered his father on all the time. The toddler has been a regular at his father’s European matches in recent months.

While Xisca looked chic in neat beige chinos, a white blouse and a camel-colored sleeveless cardigan, little Rafa Jr. also dressed for the occasion, in light green chinos with a matching striped shirt and impeccable cream high-top sneakers.

As Nadal enjoyed a final lap of honor at the end of the match, his family, including his mother and father, Ana Maria Parera and Sebastian Nadal Homar, and sister, Maria Isabel, wiped away tears.

Nadal is known for his close relationship with his family; The star has been known to rent houses when visiting tournaments, where he hosts a host of family and friends, rather than staying in a hotel room.

Emotional: The 38-year-old tennis legend, who announced his retirement earlier this year, received a standing ovation as he said goodbye to a great career

Not a dry eye in the house: Nadal’s family, including his wife Maria ‘Xisca’ Perello and sister Maria Isabel Nadal (middle row, left and centre) burst into tears as Nadal played in the Davis Cup match against Dutchman Botic of the Zandschhulp cashed

The prelude to this tie was pure theatre.

The Spanish players went out one by one, before a white line appeared in the darkness in the tunnel and the most famous headband in the world emerged.

As fans in the arena roared along to the tune of the wordless Spanish national anthem, the emotion was etched on Nadal’s craggy face.

During the warm-up, the announcer went through all of Nadal’s Grand Slam titles and each title was cheered from the steel beams. It took a while, especially when they reached the French Open. ‘Champion de Roland Garros dos mille cinco’ – ‘OLE!’ – ‘Dos mille siete’ – ‘OLE’ and so on 14 times.

A video tracing the highlights of his incredible career, with tributes from the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Murray and David Beckham, left few eyes dry.

The Spanish veteran, 38, was moved by the video and remained on the court dressed in red, yellow and white as he delivered his final 12-minute speech in front of 11,500 adoring fans. The famous headband was turned off at the time.

It was breathtaking to celebrate this champion of champions, but once the serious business got down to business, it became clear that Nadal was in trouble. He covered the court well enough, but struggled to get much momentum behind his groundstrokes as his forehands lacked their former fizz.

The toddler seemed happy to cheer his father on; the youngster has become a regular at Nadal’s close home matches in recent months

Rafa Jr was dressed in light green chinos with a matching striped shirt and impeccable cream high-top sneakers

One last time! Rafa Jr. holds his hands up as his father took the court, and Nadal’s wife was in equally vocal form as the match started

Rafael Nadal’s career is over after Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup by the Netherlands

Nadal said goodbye to the fans after his brilliant time in the match came to an end

Nadal was defeated 6-4, 6-4 by Botic van de Zandschulp in what turned out to be his last ever match

When Nadal was asked after the match if he was satisfied with his performance, he was philosophical and said: ‘That was not the case, I lost my match. But at this point in my career I can’t complain much. I did my best, I tried to enjoy it and play with the right energy. It just didn’t work.

“It’s good in some ways if that was my last match: I lost my first match in the Davis Cup, and I lost my last,” said the 22-time Grand Slam champion. “So we close the loop.”

The selection of Nadal was controversial: from a purely sporting point of view, shouldn’t captain David Ferrer have chosen the reliable Roberto Bautista Agut? But with Nadal playing his last event before his retirement, it would have been a brave man to deny the 11,500 spectators the sight they came for.

Nadal insisted he was selected purely on merit and not sentiment.

“I really believe David has put the player on the field that he thinks has the best chance of winning,” he said. ‘From the start I told him not to feel any pressure to put me in.

The tennis legend married his wife Maria, pictured, in October 2019 after 17 years of dating

Xisca shared a joke during the match as Nadal took to the court to great support from the home crowd

Nadal insisted he was selected on merit and not sentiment but struggled during the match

The 38-year-old claimed it wasn’t a satisfying ending, but also said he had no complaints

Spain captain David Ferrer’s (right) decision to choose Nadal over Roberto Bautista Agut (left) was a major talking point ahead of the match in Malaga on Tuesday evening

‘It was of course a risk to put myself on the field to play the first game. But that’s the captain’s job. I’m sure he made this decision thinking what’s best for the team, and not for myself.”

“Probably the decision to put me on trial today didn’t work,” he admitted. “If I were captain, I probably wouldn’t choose the next day if we went ahead, that’s my feeling.”

In a twist of fate, the doubles match was destined to end a Grand Slam-winning career anyway. Dutch doubles specialist Wesley Koolhof is retiring after the Davis Cup and he was completely inspired to team up with Van de Zandschulp to defeat Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers.

Koolhof’s story continues, but one of the greatest stories tennis has ever told ended on Tuesday evening.