Special coverage presented by LineupSurf  - Cover photo: Slater for WSL/Ryder 

Yago was given the number eight and a freezer fell on top of the best in history. Slater lowered his head and let his entire career, perhaps the end of it, pass through his body.

“Everything was under control, how could this series have gotten out of hand?” he must have thought at first. “What am I going to do now? Was this my last series at Teahupoo?” he must have asked himself later.

The truth is that Kelly said that if he qualifies for the 2024 Paris Olympics (his chances are quite low), he will retire for good, but as he looked motivated yesterday, he seems far from retirement and far from having lost the level to be among the best in the world. Yes, at 51 and also at 52, 53, 54, etc.

It sounds crazy and it is written that someone can compete against the best at a high level at the age of someone who is thinking about retiring from an eight-hour job, osteoarthritis and a hip replacement.

But it's true: It may have been Slater's last participation in a world circuit event, his last as an elite competitor, and it pains me to the core to see him go in this way; one of the most painful ways to lose: Everything under control, 90 seconds left, priority and a heat coming up. He must have thought more about the victory lap and putting a little more pressure on Dora and thinking about how he could come back a bit.

Well, in those 90 seconds everything went wrong: He did not improve his score, he was 0,2 below doing so and in the next one Yago did a long and not so deep tube that gave him the score and he ended up defeating him by 0,24.

Yago's eight was unanimous but it could have been the score of the year (he needed 7,76); I think Slater's waves were heavier and bigger and his barrels were deeper and the Brazilian's had its dramatic factor but he rode the barrel, he didn't slow down too much, he could have been deeper. If I had been a judge, I wouldn't have given it to him... That's my humble opinion.

But that's not the important thing. Slater stayed there, first with his head down and then, sitting on one board and holding the other, contemplating life, what had just happened and what will come next in one of the places where he had the most glory. It was clear that this defeat hurt him like few others and surely because it could mean that it will be his last.

After a while, with the good sportsmanship that did not always characterize him, he greeted Yago and they exchanged a few words.

And, as always, as a fan of the GOAT, it broke my heart to see him lose, and even more so to see him lose like that. My face fell when that wave came and while Yago pumped and the wave kept rolling, I couldn't believe it. When I saw the scores, my face continued to fall and finally I accepted that maybe I will never see him again and that it is possible that an era has ended, that of the best in history and certainly, the most entertaining.

I've always said that an event with Slater is twice as fun as without. What will the tour be like without him if he really does leave?

Have we just witnessed the end of the greatest? It will be, once again, entertaining to find out.

I really don't think Slater is convinced he's going to retire. I don't see him saying, "I'm hanging up my gloves and I'm not coming back."

But as always, with Slater you never know.