Time has finally come for Rafael Nadal. The 38-year-old tennis great, who was the first man in history to win 22 Grand Slam trophies, announced Thursday his intention to retire at the end of the year. His final event will be the Davis Cup in November, where he’ll be representing his home country of Spain.
Nadal announced his retirement in a heartfelt video message posted to social media. It was a little strange seeing Rafa, usually so open with his emotions, calm and composed when he spoke about the end of his time in competitive tennis.
Mil gracias a todos
Many thanks to all
Merci beaucoup à tous
Grazie mille à tutti
谢谢大家
شكرا لكم جميعا
תודה לכולכם
Obrigado a todos
Vielen Dank euch allen
Tack alla
Хвала свима
Gràcies a tots pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 10, 2024
“Hello everyone, I’m here to let you know that I am retiring from professional tennis,” Nadal said in the video. “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations.
“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.
“And I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”
We’ve seen Nadal through it all. We met him when he was a gangly, mop-top teenager with boy band good looks. Now, 22 major trophies later, he’s a 38-year-old man with a wife and a child who has gotten tired of fighting his body, especially over the last two years as he’s dealt with recurrent back and foot injuries.
After turning pro as a 14-year-old in 2001, Rafa burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old in 2005, winning his first Grand Slam trophy in his French Open debut. What followed was nearly 20 years of passionate, top-level tennis. Here’s one wild stat: Over his career, Nadal has played in 131 tournament finals, winning 92 and losing just 39. In Grand Slam finals, he has a 22-8 record. In 2010, he became the second man in history (and the youngest) to complete the Career Golden Slam (winning all four majors and an Olympic gold medal) after finally capturing a US Open title.
While Nadal won trophies on all four surfaces, it was clear from a young age that he was highly proficient on clay. At one point he’d won 81 straight matches on clay, the most any tennis player has ever won on any surface in the history of tennis. He won 14 French Open championships and is so beloved by the French that a Nadal statue was erected at Roland Garros years before he called it a career.
In a way, Nadal’s retirement feels like the beating heart of the men’s tour has been removed. His joy for tennis, and his gratitude for everything he had, could always be felt both on and off the court. Years of being in the spotlight as one of the most talented and competitive athletes on the planet can harden some people, but it didn’t change Rafa. He was humble and kind, always offering a smile or a hand or word.
Nadal was human, and he didn’t mind letting us see it. There was no facade between him and the rest of the world. He never put on a character. He was always just himself. If the Big Four was a boy band, Nadal would be the soulful one. (Roger Federer would be the driven and disciplined lead singer, Novak Djokovic would be the bad boy and Andy Roddick would be the funny one.)
Here’s an exchange sportswriter Jon Wertheim overheard at the 2018 US Open.
Overheard in player dining:
Worker one, motioning to friend: “That’s the guy who always say hi.”
Worker two: “I love that guy. He always like, “Hey buddy what’s up?’ He remembers me each year.”
Worker one: “Nicest guy. What’s his name again?”
Worker two: “That’s Nadal.”— Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) August 28, 2018
No discussion of Nadal would be complete without a look at some of his outstanding highlights.
2004 Davis Cup final. Spain vs United States.
World No.2 Andy Roddick leads the American team.
In lieu of Juan Carlos Ferrero, who’s struggling with confidence, captain Jordi Arrese pulls an 18-year-old Rafael Nadal out of the hat.
The rest is history. pic.twitter.com/J4BNnwQKTx
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) October 10, 2024
Reliving 10 of the greatest points in Rafa Nadal’s career (although there are many, many more)
Just a physical, relentless beast of a man who made his opponents earn every single moment with him on the court
The ultimate competitor
Thank you, Rafa 🇪🇸👑
pic.twitter.com/4rufvsKfuF— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 10, 2024
Here’s a look at Rafa (and his hair) through the years.
Rafa always had the best reactions when the final shot was made and he stood alone for the win. But the best reaction may be from later in his career, when he won the 2022 Australian Open. No one had expected him to make it to the final, and at the start of the match, it looked like Daniil Medvedev had Nadal’s number. Nadal had dropped the first two sets and was on the brink of defeat when he dug deep and came up with one of the grittiest, most unexpected performances of his career.
Nadal shocked Medvedev, winning the last three sets and taking home his first Australian Open trophy since 2009. His reaction is an absolute classic.
What’s next for Nadal? Only he knows. The only thing we all know for sure is that he’s earned all the rest he wants.
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