The King is dead, long live the King.

If this was to be Rafael Nadal's last match at the French Open, the Spaniard leaves a legacy that will forever remain unmatched.

The 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 first-round loss to German fourth seed Alexander Zverev does not really matter.

Fourteen titles spanning nearly two decades, a 112-4 win-loss record, an iconic career and countless unforgettable triumphs and memories do.

For Nadal, the French Open, Roland Garros and Court Philippe-Chatrier has been a love story.

The 37-year-old Spaniard said it himself after the defeat.

"I never could imagine when I was a kid that I would be here, almost 38 years old with all the success I had here winning so many times, I never could dream about it.

"All the memories every single year have been special and different."

So has Nadal.

He is somehow both a once-in-a-lifetime player and not even a once-in-a-generation player — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic saw to that.

But where those two were able to dominate the grass and hard courts, Nadal mastered the clay — a physical bull pitted against an elegant, stylish throwback and a metronomic brick wall determined to rewrite tennis history.

There's a story Federer likes to tell about how Nike first offered him the Capri pants Nadal would make famous and he said no.

The Swiss great felt he didn't have the chutzpah to pull them off.

Starting in just his second Australian Open main draw in 2005, Nadal made the pants, which hadn't been in fashion since the 1960s, work as he paired them with muscle tops.

That's the thing about Nadal, he always made it work.

And arguably no-one worked harder on or off the court.

Renowned for his fitness, Nadal over the years ground his opponents into the dust.

Repeatedly.

Roland Garros featured some of the finer moments.

His five-set victory over Djokovic in the 2013 semis, where he prevailed 9-7 in the fifth — before routing compatriot David Ferrer in the final — is one of the all-time classics in Paris, and came after a significant knee injury saw the Spaniard off the tour for seven months.

The revenge he took on Sweden's Robin Söderling in the 2010 final was something else.

Söderling stunned Nadal in the fourth round of the 2009 tournament before losing the final to Federer.

In 2010, Nadal played him in the final and won 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; the free-swinging Swede never got a look in.

Add that to Nadal winning his first French Open in 2005 just days after his 19th birthday, making him the youngest to raise that title since Michael Chang in 1989, and the first since Mats Wilander in 1982 to do it on debut, and you get a measure of his greatness.

Tennis chameleon

But to pass him off as simply the greatest clay-courter of all time would be dismissive.

He still won Wimbledon.

The low-bouncing grass is as unforgiving on western forehands as clay is to players like Federer and Pete Sampras, but Nadal still lifted the trophy twice at The All England Club in 2008 and 2010 as he found a way to deal with the surface.

That's what has in part made him special, his ability to deal with adversity.

The comeback from the 2009 knee injury, unproven drug allegations and of course modifying his game to suit changes in the sport and him.

Even now he goes for more on serve and comes to the net more than in the past. An acknowledgement he is past his best but not done.

The match against Zverev showed that.

For all the off-court allegations against the German, who will face a trial shortly in relation to domestic violence charges, he is a tremendous tennis player.

Zverev won the Rome Masters just weeks ago and should be considered a favourite to lift the title here, which would be his maiden slam.

Coming off 18 months' worth of debilitating injuries, the old bull pushed him past three hours on court.

'More time' or borrowed time?

Nadal was up a break in both the second and third sets before the bigger hitter blasted him off the court.

Lacking match practice, he just couldn't put Zverev away.

And Todd Woodbridge has probably never said more poignant words on commentary.

Woodbridge might not be wrong.

It may have been a lesser Nadal who shot an errant forehand wide on match point, but he wasn't poor. Even as the cameras cut to Spanish number one and Nadal successor Carlos Alcaraz in the stands, anguish etched on his face, Nadal could be proud.