David Ferrer played his last professional tennis match yesterday, losing to Sascha Zverev at the Madrid Open. After the match, Ferrer was fêted for his long and successful career, despite never having won a Grand Slam title. (What happens when you play in the era of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.) There was a video tribute, and appearances on court of family and friends, after which Ferrer was handed the microphone. Because he often lost in the quarter or semifinals, he rarely had a chance to speak in public, and I was impressed by how warm and composed and articulate he was. He had a personality, I saw, and was not just a man in shorts endlessly running down shots. And it occurred to me that, except for the champions – who on the men’s side have not been that numerous lately (see above) – fans don’t get to know the players they watch. They quietly play their matches and then disappear, and are not really heard from until they retire. And then they show the world, which is about to start missing them, what it’s been missing all along.
