Spain and tennis having to cope with the retirement of the great Nadal

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — 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 López, 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."

López, who was Nadal’s teammate in the Davis Cup, compared him to the likes of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, all athletes who transcended sports.

“There is a very small group of athletes who, during their careers, were able to inspire people in a special way, going beyond sports,” López said. “Rafa belongs to this small group. People everywhere in the world will remember Rafa some 40 or 50 years from now.”

Unable to overcome a string of injuries in recent years, the 38-year-old Nadal retired from professional tennis after more than 20 years on tour and 22 Grand Slam titles, two more than Roger Federer and second only to the 24 of Novak Djokovic, the only one of the Big Three still playing.

The front pages of Spain’s dailies all talked about Nadal following his farewell match — a 6-4, 6-4 defeat against No. 80 Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.

“It was an honor,” the sports daily AS said.

“Thank you, Rafa,” Marca headlined.

“Eternal,” Mundo Deportivo said.

It's hard to find any other Spanish athlete coming close to Nadal's fame and sporting achievements.

Other Spaniards who have earned sporting greatness include five-time major golf champion Seve Ballesteros; five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin, two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol; two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso; six-time MotoGP champion Marc Márquez; and four-time Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz.

Spain also has a long list of successful soccer players, including World Cup winners Iker Casillas and Andrés Iniesta, but none with a status like a Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, who have transcended sports like Nadal.

Nadal is also a two-time Olympic champion, and was Spain’s flag-bearer during the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

He is adored in Spain just as much for his victories as he is for his passion and unwavering dedication, and is seen as an example for society in general for his values and humbleness on and off the courts.

“Nadal makes us Spaniards feel proud. He represents the values of passion, camaraderie, solidarity. He will always be the image of sport in Spain," said Clara García, a 35-year-old fan who was in Malaga to watch Nadal. “It's not easy knowing that he won't be playing and representing Spain on the courts around the world anymore.”

Federer gushed about his friend and longtime foe's retirement in an open letter. “You made Spain proud, you made the whole tennis world proud. You have always been a role model for kids around the world.”

Nadal told the crowd in his farewell ceremony after Spain's loss that he always "strived to be better and achieve my goals from a place of respect, humility, and I valued all the good things that happened to me.

“I’ve tried to be a good person, which was what mattered the most to me, and I hope that you have noticed that."

Fellow tennis pros Djokovic and Serena Williams, as well as former soccer stars David Beckham and other athletes praised Nadal.

"Thank you for so many incredible moments and memories as a tennis fan and for everything that you have done to inspire young people around the world,” former England and Real Madrid player Beckham said.

“My goodness, you will be missed,” Williams said.

Carlos Alcaraz, regarded as Nadal's heir in Spanish tennis — he already has four Grand Slam titles at 21 — said it will be hard to avoid the inevitable pressure that will come along with following in the footsteps of his idol.

“I don’t want to think that we have to continue his legacy. I don’t want it to be a frustration if we don’t reach the level that he reached,” Alcaraz said. “If I achieve half of what he achieved, I will be happy. His legacy is going to be eternal.”

It wasn't quite clear what the future would hold for Nadal, who is an avid golfer and who has always been linked to Real Madrid. He has said in the past he would probably enjoy being the club's president one day.

“My life will change radically,” Nadal said on Wednesday after arriving home in Mallorca, where he also has the Rafa Nadal Academy. “I have to accept this change as something normal, and accept that my life will be different now than it was for the last 30 years or so. I'm excited about it, there is no doubt.”

One thing was certain: Nadal will never be too far away from tennis.

“I’ll retire from the sport but I will continue to be available for whatever is needed, and to being a good ambassador, which is what I have tried to do my entire life.”

AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

CORRECTS DATE - Spain's Rafael Nadal smiles during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal talks to the crowd during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal waves to the crowd during a tribute after playing his last match as a professional tennis player in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall in Malaga, southern Spain, on early Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Countries of the world took turns rejecting a new but vague draft text released early Thursday which attempts to form the spine of any deal reached at United Nations climate talks on money for developing countries to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change.

The draft left out a crucial sticking point: how much wealthy nations will pay poor countries. A key option for the lowest amount donors are willing to pay was just a placeholder “X.” Part of that is because rich nations have yet to make an offer in negotiations.

So the host Azerbaijan presidency with its dawn-released package of proposals did manage to unite a fractured world on climate change, but it was only in their unease and outright distaste for the plan. Negotiators at the talks — known as COP29 — in Baku, are trying to close the gap between the $1.3 trillion the developing world says is needed in climate finance and the few hundred billion that negotiators say richer nations have been prepared to give.

Independent experts say that at least $1 trillion is needed in finance to help transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward clean energy like solar and wind, better adapt to the effects of climate change and pay for losses and damages caused by extreme weather.

Colombia's environment minister Susana Mohamed said without a figure offered by developed nations, “we are negotiating on nothing.”

Panama's Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez said the “lack of commitment transparency feels like a slap in the face to the most vulnerable."

"It is just utter disrespect to those countries that are bearing the brunt of this crisis,” he said. “Developed countries must stop playing games with our life and put a serious quantified financial proposal on the table.”

Gomez listed places where negotiators worked on the issue: South Africa, Germany, the Philippines, Egypt, Austria, Switzerland, Dubai, Colombia and a few times here in Baku, asking “For God’s sakes, what’s the next stop? Mars? Do we need to go to outer space to get a quantitative number from our developed countries to be able to start negotiating here?”

Esa Ainuu, from the small Pacific island of Niue also blasted the lack of a number in the draft deal.

“For us in the Pacific, this is critical for us,” Ainuu said. “We can’t escape to the desert. We can’t escape somewhere else. This is reality for us. If finance is not bringing any positive, (then) why’re we coming to COP?”

Mohamed Adow, director of the think tank Power Shift Africa, also expressed disappointment at the lack of a figure. “We need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper,” he said.

Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director of Moroccan climate think-tank Imal Initiative for Climate and Development, said he was “at a loss for words at how disappointed we are at this stage to have come this far without serious numbers on the table and serious engagement from the developed countries.”

Even United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “I don’t think you can go on and on and on without clarifying the key aspects of the negotiation.”

Lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev emphasized how balanced the plan was, but all sides kept saying it was anything but balanced and pointed time was running out.

“We would like to correct the balance. It is completely tilted,” Pakistan delegate Romina Khurshid Alam said.

The European Union’s climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra called the draft “imbalanced, unworkable, and not acceptable.”

And Xia Yingxian, a member of China delegation, also said the current draft text contains many “unsatisfied and unacceptable” parts.

In a statement, the COP29 Presidency stressed that the drafts “are not final.”

“The COP29 Presidency’s door is always open, and we welcome any bridging proposals that the parties wish to present,” the Presidency said in a statement. It added that possible numbers for a finance goal will be released in the next iteration of the draft.

COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev convened the Qurultay — a traditional Azerbaijani meeting — where negotiators spoke to hear all sides and hammer out a compromise. He said that “after hearing all views, we will outline a way forward regarding future iterations.”

Other areas that are being negotiated include commitments to slash planet-warming fossil fuels and how to adapt to climate change. But they’ve seen little movement.

European nations and the United States criticized the package of proposals for not being strong enough in reiterating last year’s call for a transition away from fossil fuels.

“The current text offers no progress” on efforts to cut the world’s emissions of heat-trapping gases, said Germany delegation chief Jennifer Morgan. “This cannot and must not be our response to the suffering of millions of people around the world. We must do better.”

U.S. climate envoy John Podesta said he was surprised that “there is nothing that carries forward the ... outcomes that we agreed on last year in Dubai.” The United States, the world’s biggest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, has played little role in the talks as it braces for another presidency under Donald Trump.

But members of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance such as Colombia, Ireland and Denmark, who are pushing for an end of fossil fuels, said the lack of wording on transitioning away from fossil fuels is not a deal killer for them.

Days earlier, the 20 largest economies met in Brazil and didn't mention the call for transitioning away from fossil fuels. Guterres, who was at that meeting, said official language is one thing, but reality is another.

“There will be no way” the world can limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius "if there is not a phase out of fossil fuels,” Guterres said at a Thursday news conference.

Also on Thursday, the EU, Mexico, Norway and several other countries announced they would release plans to rapidly cut emissions over the next decade to meet the landmark Paris agreement’s goal of restraining global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, although they did not detail how those cuts would happen.

Under the agreement, countries need to detail their voluntary plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by early next year.

“There is a real risk of falling short,” said Tore Sandvik, Norway’s minister of climate and environment. “We must reinforce the message that the Paris agreement is functioning as intended.”

Associated Press journalists Ahmed Hatem and Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Susana Muhamad, environment minister of Colombia, left, speaks at a session next to Denmark Climate Minister Lars Aagaard during a session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Attendees have "pay up" taped on their mouth during the People's Plenary at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, arrives for a news conference at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists display signs that read "stop fueling genocide" during the People's Plenary at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, speaks during a news conference at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Children advocate for a clean planet during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, left, and Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan's COP29 lead negotiator, speak during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Austria Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler, left, talks with Australia Climate Minister Chris Bowen before a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Jennifer Morgan, Germany climate envoy, arrives ahead of a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, arrives for a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Panama Climate Envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, left, and Wopke Hoekstra, EU climate commissioner, attend a session on climate targets during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A security person stands near a logo for the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Activists participate in a demonstration for climate justice at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)