After a week of relentless tension and late-night heroics at La Caja Magica it was perhaps asking too much for the first final in the Davis Cup's new guise to deliver a classic.
So it proved as Spain accounted for first-time finalists Canada to be the last nation standing of the 18 that assembled in Madrid.
With Spain's King Felipe watching on,the 33-year-old Nadal fought off Canadian youngster Denis Shapovalov 6-3,7-6 (9-7) to give his country a first Davis Cup title since 2011 – and sixth in total.
If any player deserved to get his hands on the famous old trophy again it was world No.1 Nadal after he worked overtime all week,often into the small hours,to win all eight matches he played.
But he surely would have been happy had it been teammate Bautista Agut to have delivered the winning point.
The world No.9 had given the hosts a flying start in the final,beating teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (7-3),6-2 after returning to the squad following the death of his father.