Rafael Nadal's farewell tour is coming up sadly short of farewells

That hurts in Indian Wells, a place he loves, and where he can “be with calm.”

Two decades ago, the pace of the surface helped a young Rafa make the transition from clay to hard courts. More than once, he came out of a dry spell to win the BNP Paribas Open/Pacific Life Open title. In 2007, he beat Novak Djokovic in the final to end a mini-slump. In 2013, he returned from a long injury layoff to edge Juan Martin del Potro in an excellent final. Two years ago, he survived Alcaraz, and the wind, in the semifinals—only to suffer another injury, to one of his ribs. This season, though, at 37, even the balmy, calming Southern California atmosphere couldn’t save him.

Indian Wells, with its accessible practice courts, was a good place for a fan to get a glimpse of Rafa with his guard slightly down. Toni Nadal, his taskmaster head coach, never made the trip, so everyone in his camp was a little more at ease. At the same time, it seemed to facilitate deeper technical discussions with Francisco Roig, his second coach. Roig and Rafa would go over the finer points of his forehand arm angle for 10 or 20 minutes at a time, while hundreds of people watched quietly from the practice court bleachers. I began to understand the force of Nadal’s concentration while watching him completely block out all of the fans who surrounded him during his training sessions at Indian Wells. In the middle of a sea of people, he really did seem to be alone with the tennis ball.