- The Spaniard will say goodbye in the Davis Cup final representing his country | Photo: EFE
The Spanish Rafael Nadal announced his definitive retirement from tennis in the Davis Cup final that will be held in Malaga from November 19 to 24.
“I am here to inform you that I am retiring from professional tennis,” said the Spanish player in a video.
He indicated that he is excited that his last tournament is the Davis Cup final, in which he represents his country. “It is closing the circle,” added the winner of 22 Grand Slams.
Nadal assured that he has gone through difficult years, especially the last two,
“I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. It is a decision that is obviously difficult,” said the 38-year-old tennis player, who played his last matches at the last Olympic Games in Paris.
Nadal retires with 92 titles under his belt, the first of which he won in 2004.
Among his achievements are 14 Roland Garros, 4 United States Opens, 2 Wimbledon and 2 Australian Opens, 2 Olympic golds and 5 Davis Cups.
Rafael Nadal, a legend in Paris
Paris was the beginning and the end of the legend, the place of his greatest glories, Roland Garros was the fortress that forged his myth and made him the king of the land.
The Philippe Chatrier track will forever be engraved on his skin since he surprised the world in 2005 when he burst in at the age of 18 to turn the professional circuit upside down and, after celebrating his 19th birthday in the French capital, lay the first brick of his glory.
There he lifted his last Grand Slam 17 years later, number 22, leaving another example of his stainless will to rise above adversity, the same ones that weighed him down throughout his career and that now, at 38 years old, They mark the end of their epic.
His record in Paris closed with 14 titles, only 4 defeats, 116 matches (96.5% wins in the matches played), many whistles from the public, many more applauses and a statue that will mark an unrepeatable history.
At Roland Garros only three tennis players managed to beat him, Robin Soderling (2009), Novak Djokovic (2015 and 2021) and Alexander Zverev (2024).
Rafael Nadal’s injuries
“The 2005 final was the beginning of many of the problems I have had in my sports career. But it is one of the most beautiful memories I have ever had. I broke my scaphoid in half during the game. The next day I couldn’t even walk,” Nadal has explained on several occasions.
He had Muller-Weiss disease, a bone deformity – a lump Nadal calls it. He put his career in danger. It was the beginning. He only had one Roland Garros. That illness conditioned many things. It caused the appearance of others. For a long time he suffered the consequences. Everything could have been different without that injury. And without many others.
The Spaniard has suffered injuries to his man, tendonitis in both knees, back pain, abdominal injuries, left psoas injuries, rib injuries, hip injuries, and wrist injuries.
The data indicates that Rafael Nadal triples Djokovic in the number of ailments suffered and had ten more than the Swiss Roger Federer until his retirement. The Spanish tennis player has had up to 24 injuries since 2002.
Since 2023, in which he was barely able to compete, which was a blank in his career, nothing has been the same for the Spanish player. Each attempt has been a setback. He tried to return, try again in 2024, at the Brisbane tournament. But he came out with a rib ailment. He did not return to play from Brisbane until the start of the clay season. The Olympic Games became a priority.
Rafael Nadal’s injuries and time out
2003 Left man (1 month out)
2004 Stress fracture in left foot (3 months)
2005 Swelling in left foot (4 months)
2008 Right knee tendonitis (1 month)
2009 Tendonitis of both knees and abdominal tear (3 months)
2010 Right knee (month and a half)
2012-2013 Left knee tendon rupture and hoffitis (7 months)
2014 Right wrist sheath removal (3 months)
2015 Left wrist tendon sheath (two and a half months)
2016-2017 Right knee (two months)
2018 Psoas iliac (months and middle)
2018 Right knee tendonitis (two months)
2018 Abdominal injury (one month)
2021 Back injury
2021 Left foot injury (2 months)
2021 Left foot injury (four and a half months)
2022 Rib crack (month and a half)
2022 Abdominal rupture (five weeks)
2022 Abdominal rupture (months)
2023 Psoas iliac (diez months)
2024 Left hip microrupture
Total four years and ten months out due to injury
Reactions to Rafael Nadal’s retirement
The Swiss Roger Federer, winner of twenty Grand Slams, praised Rafael Nadal’s career and assured that it has been “an absolute honor” to have competed against him.
Federer, who announced his retirement in 2022, reacted to Nadal’s farewell video, which will put an end to his career in the next Davis Cup Finals in Malaga from November 19 to 24
“What a race, Rafa. I have always wished that this day would not come. Thank you for the unforgettable memories and for all your achievements in the sport we love. “It has been an absolute honor,” said the Swiss.
The current world tennis number one, the Italian Jannik Sinner, said today that the announcement of the upcoming retirement of the legendary Spanish player Rafael Nadal is “hard news for the entire tennis world.”
“I am lucky to have met him, he is an incredible person,” the Italian said at a press conference, praising Nadal not only for “how good he has been as a player” but also for the lessons he has offered to the tennis players of the new generation.
Sinner recalled “the lessons he taught us about how to behave on the court, how to manage situations (…), also how to stay humble and not change for success, choose the right people around you… he has given us many things.”
“Everything has a beginning and an end and only he knows how he feels,” reflected the best tennis player of the moment.
With information from EFE
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