The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal will retire from professional sports at the end of the season. The 22-time Grand Slam winner announced the end of his career in a video message on Instagram. Accordingly, his appearance in this year’s Davis Cup final in Málaga in November will be his last game as a professional.
The decision was not easy for him. But “I believe it is the right time to end this career, which has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined,” said the 38-year-old.
Nadal is one of the most successful tennis players of all time and, alongside the Swiss Roger Federer and the Serbian Novak Djokovic, is one of the so-called Big Three who dominated men’s tennis for almost two decades.
First title at 18 years old
In addition to his 14 victories at the French Open, Nadal also triumphed four times at the US Open and twice each at Wimbledon and at the Australian Open. He was number one in the world rankings for a total of 209 weeks and collected more than 134 million euros in prize money alone.
Nadal became a professional tennis player at the age of 15. At the age of 18, he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2002. In 2004 he won his first title on the ATP tour and won the Davis Cup with Spain. The following year he won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open.
Injuries repeatedly set Nadal back
However, Nadal was repeatedly set back by injuries throughout his career. He was particularly troubled by Müller-Weiss syndrome, a rare disease in which bone tissue in the scaphoid bone of the foot skeleton dies. “The reality is that the last two years have been very difficult. I don’t think I have been able to play without restrictions,” Nadal said in his video message.
Nadal had already announced in May 2023 that he wanted to end his career in 2024. However, the exact time was not certain: “I can’t say 100 percent because you never know what will happen,” said Nadal.
“He did everything for the sport,” said his biggest rival Federer. “It would be phenomenal if he could hang on for another season, but only Rafa can answer that.” Nadal has now given this answer.
The Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal will retire from professional sports at the end of the season. The 22-time Grand Slam winner announced the end of his career in a video message on Instagram. Accordingly, his appearance in this year’s Davis Cup final in Málaga in November will be his last game as a professional.
The decision was not easy for him. But “I believe it is the right time to end this career, which has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined,” said the 38-year-old.
