Rafael Nadal has confirmed he’ll retire from skilled tennis after the Davis Cup finals in Malaga, Spain, in November.
“The reality is that it has been a difficult few years, particularly the last two. I don’t think I was able to play without restrictions,” the 38-year-old said in a video posted on Thursday, October 10.
“It's obviously a difficult decision that took me some time. But in this life everything has a beginning and an end.”
Nadal won his first skilled match on the age of 15 at a Challenger tournament in Seville and went on to win 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 French Open. He will finish his profession with a record of 112-4 at Roland Garros, where he lost his last Grand Slam match to Alexander Zverev earlier this 12 months.
In 2008, he broke Roger Federer's streak of 5 Wimbledon titles in a final that lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes, in the primary shift of a 15-year rivalry between the 2 players at the highest of the boys's game. Alongside Novak Djokovic, Nadal and Federer formed the “Big Three” and have won 66 Grand Slam titles together. Federer retired in 2022 on the age of 41, but Djokovic remains to be an lively player.
While the 2008 Wimbledon final is commonly considered probably the greatest matches of all time, Nadal and Djokovic's 5 hour, 53 minute long 2012 Australian Open final, which Djokovic won in five sets, and their 2009 semifinal meeting in Madrid, which Nadal won won in three, at the least standing next to it.
Along with these two, Nadal will retire from tennis as certainly one of the best male players of all time.
“I am very, very lucky for all the things that I have experienced. “I would like to thank the tennis industry and everyone in this sport: my long-time colleagues, especially my great rivals,” the Spaniard added.
“I think it is the right time to end a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”
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Nadal won his last Grand Slam title on the 2022 French Open, essentially playing on one foot after numbing his left one with injections to give you the chance to compete. He then suffered an abdominal tear at Wimbledon 2022 and one other injury on the Australian Open 2023. His last singles appearance was on the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he lost in a one-sided straight sets defeat to Djokovic, who would go on to win Olympic gold. Nadal won a gold medal in singles on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He is predicted to play on the Davis Cup together with his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, who at 21 is already a four-time Grand Slam winner.
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Nadal's retirement announcement isn't an enormous surprise, but it surely still feels seismic.
Men's tennis without Nadal just doesn't seem right. For almost 20 years he has been such a dominant, unique figure on this sport – a real one-of-a-kind whose fame and reverence extends far beyond tennis. One only has to take a look at the outpouring of emotion from figures across all sports, particularly in football and particularly in Spain, to comprehend its global impact.
It wasn't nearly what he achieved on the pitch, but in addition how he achieved it. Somehow he was part raging bull, part impeccably behaved athlete, first changing the perception of clay court players after which obliterating them.
Nadal was initially regarded as such when he won the French Open in 2005, but then developed probably the greatest all-court games within the history of the game, winning 22 Grand Slam titles and becoming probably the greatest volleyball players in the boys's game by the tip his profession. In addition to those 14 French Open titles, he won two Wimbledon titles, two Australian Open titles and 4 US Open titles.
His rivalry with Roger Federer shaped tennis within the 2000s and made the game accessible to a bigger audience than ever before. The 2008 Wimbledon final that Nadal won is taken into account by many to be the best match of all time, but his 2012 Australian Open final against Novak Djokovic and their three 2009 ATP clay-court meetings (in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome) also stand amongst many others.
The 2008 Wimbledon final marked the moment when Rafael Nadal became an existential threat to Roger Federer. (Lewis Whyld/Pool via Getty Images)
For many, Nadal is the best player and competitor to ever play the boys's game, with definitely the fiercest and handiest forehand the game has ever seen.
It is the character of sport for stars to continuously evolve and naturally, rationally, we knew at the present time would all the time come. And yet one way or the other Nadal felt immortal, in a position to continuously withstand serious injuries to rise back to the highest of the game and win certainly one of his biggest prizes, the 2022 French Open, with a functional foot.
At 38, he has struggled with one too many injuries and it’s time to say goodbye. But the legacy he leaves behind won’t ever be forgotten.
(Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
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