Exhausted Nadal ends his “incredible” tennis career.
On Thursday, Rafael Nadal declared he would retire following the Davis Cup finals in November. This announcement marked the end of a career that yielded 22 Grand Slam victories, international acclaim, and the creation of legendary rivalries between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
“I’m quitting the professional tennis circuit. In a social media video, Rafael Nadal stated, “The truth is that these past two years in particular have been quite challenging.
“It’s clear that this is a tough choice, and it took me some time to decide. However, everything in this life has a start and an end.”
The 38-year-old Spaniard, who has already established himself as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, is about to cap off his 20 years as a professional with 92 titles and $135 million in prize money alone.
“Rafa, what a career! Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer said, “I always hoped this day would never come.
“We are grateful for the priceless moments we shared and all of your amazing accomplishments in the game we adore. It has truly been an honor!” Jannik Sinner, the current tennis world champion, described Rafael Nadal’s retirement from the game as “tough news for the tennis world.”
Alongside Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal has been added to the Spain squad as he looks to cap off his career in Malaga next month with a sixth Davis Cup victory.
“However, I am ecstatic that I will be representing my nation in the Davis Cup final during my final tournament.” Nadal, who won the Davis Cup for the first time as a teenager in 2004, continued, “I think I’ve come full circle.”
14 of Nadal’s major titles came at the French Open, where he excelled. His first came in 2005, a few days after turning 19, and his last came in 2022, when he momentarily held the record for the longest-running winner of the tournament until Djokovic broke it the following year.
In 118 matches, he only lost five times on Roland Garros’s renowned crushed brick surface. In addition, he won the Australian Open twice and the US Open four times each.
Many people consider his five-set victory over Roger Federer in the 2008 All England Club championship match—which concluded in nearly total darkness—to be the best Slam final ever played.
When Nadal won gold at the 2008 Olympics, he completed a career Grand Slam. He was the world number one at year-end five times, and from 2005 until March of last year, he never dropped out of the top 10.
Between 2004 and 2022, he won at least one title annually and held the top spot for a total of 209 weeks. He had a 24–16 advantage over his longtime rival and close friend Federer, who retired two years ago. In Australia in 2022, Nadal overtook Federer’s record of 20 major victories.
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