Nadal -- who was the No. 1-ranked singles player for 209 weeks -- had his last match on Tuesday in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain ... a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp.

After the final point, Nadal was honored with a retirement ceremony ... and the crowd's response left the 38-year-old in tears.

"The way I would like to be remembered more is a good person from a small village in Mallorca," Nadal said.

"Just a kid that follows their dreams, works as hard as possible to be what I am today."

Nadal is one of the best tennis players in the sport's history. He earned 22 Grand Slams -- his first at 19 years old -- a record 14 French Open championships, 92 ATP-level single titles and has the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era at 81.

"In this life, everything has a beginning and an end," Nadal said in his retirement announcement on October 10.

"And I think it’s an appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined."