Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will retire from professional tennis after the Davis Cup final in Malaga, Spain this November.
“The reality is that it’s been a difficult year, especially the last two years. I don’t think I could have played without restrictions,” the 38-year-old said in a video published on Thursday, October 10.
“This was obviously a difficult decision and took some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.”
Nadal won his first professional match at the age of 15 at the Challenger Tournament in Seville and went on to win 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 French Opens. He would finish his career at Roland Garros with a record of 112-4, but lost his final Grand Slam match to Alexander Zverev earlier this year.
In 2008, the first shift in a 15-year rivalry between the two men at the top of the men’s game, they broke Roger Federer’s record of five straight Wimbledon titles in a final that lasted four hours and 48 minutes. Along with Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Federer form the ‘Big Three’ and together they have won 66 Grand Slam titles. Federer retired in 2022 at the age of 41, but Djokovic is still an active player.
The 2008 Wimbledon final will always be cited as one of the greatest matches of all time, while the 2012 Australian Open final between Nadal and Djokovic lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes, with Djokovic winning in 5 sets, and the 2009 Wimbledon final in Madrid. Nadal won in the semifinals. If we win three games, we can at least match that.
Together with these two, Nadal will retire from tennis as one of the greatest male players of all time.
“I feel very, very lucky for everything that I have been through. I would like to thank everyone in the tennis industry and the sport, my long-time colleagues and especially my great rivals,” the Spaniard added. Ta.
“I believe this is the right time to end a career that has been long and more successful than I ever imagined.”
even deeper
What’s it like playing with Rafael Nadal on clay? We asked the players
Nadal won his last Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2022, but essentially played on one leg after having his left hand paralyzed with an injection in order to compete. He then suffered an abdominal tear at Wimbledon in 2022 and again at the Australian Open in 2023. His last singles appearance was at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he lost in straight sets to Olympic gold medalist Djokovic. Nadal won his own singles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He is expected to face compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, who is already a four-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 21, in the Davis Cup.
even deeper
Ghosts of clay courts past: Rafael Nadal’s comeback is all about his achievements
“An outpouring of emotion from numbers that go far beyond tennis.”
Analysis by Charlie Eckleshare
Nadal’s retirement announcement isn’t a huge surprise, but it still comes as a shock.
Men’s tennis without Nadal doesn’t seem right. For almost 20 years, he has been a unique and dominant figure in the sport, a true one-of-a-kind whose fame and adoration extend far beyond tennis. One need only look at the outpouring of emotion from figures in the world of sport, especially soccer, and Spain in particular, to understand his global influence.
It wasn’t just what he accomplished on the court, it was how he accomplished it. Somehow, part wild bull, part perfectly mannered athlete, he first changed perceptions of clay court players and then obliterated them.
Nadal was initially seen as such when he won the French Open in 2005, but he went on to develop one of the best all-court games in the history of the sport, winning 22 Grand Slam titles and becoming the dominant player in men’s tennis. He has emerged as one of the best volleyers in the world. The end of his career. In addition to his 14 French Open titles, he also won two Wimbledon, two Australian Open, and four US Open titles.
His rivalry with Roger Federer defined tennis in the 2000s and drew the sport to larger audiences than ever before. The 2008 Wimbledon final, won by Nadal, is considered by many to be the greatest match of all time, but the 2012 Australian Open final against Novak Djokovic and the 2009 ATP clay court three- The matches (Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome) should stand up too, in which there are more people.
The 2008 Wimbledon final was the moment when Rafael Nadal became an existential threat to Roger Federer. (Louis Wilde/Pool via Getty Images)
For many, Nadal is the greatest player and competitor to ever play the men’s game, with one of the most ferocious and effective forehands in the history of the sport.
The nature of the sport is that stars are always moving forward, and rationally, of course, we knew this day would come. Yet somehow Nadal feels indestructible, enduring constant serious injuries to re-emerge to the top of the sport and win one of the biggest prizes, the 2022 French Open, while functioning on one leg. did.
At 38 years old, he has battled too many injuries and it’s time to say goodbye. However, his legacy will never be forgotten.
(Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
