The last event of the season – the Davis Cup Finals – will coincide with the retirement of Rafael Nadal. The 22-time Grand Slam champion will certainly be the most anticipated player in Malaga at the end of this month, in what will be the last chapter of his legendary career.
Rafael Nadal, Olympic Games 2024© Stream screenshot
The Spanish champion decided to retire at 38, having realized that his body conditions no longer allow him to compete at the level he would like. His results in 2024 were not brilliant, even at the French Open and the Paris Olympics, where he hoped to write a new page of tennis history.
After the Olympic tournament in the summer, the former world number 1 missed the US Open and the Laver Cup promising that he would announce his future very soon. A few weeks later, the announcement came that all fans feared. The 14-time French Open champion returned to action at the ‘Six Kings Slam’ in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, playing against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Serbian Novak Djokovic before receiving a tribute from the event organizers (who gave him a golden racket). The most likely hypothesis is that the last official singles match played by Rafa remains against Djokovic at the Olympics in Paris, since hardly the captain of Spain David Ferrer will line up in singles in Malaga. Nadal will most likely play doubles.
Moya comments on Nadal’s decision
Rafa has been thinking very carefully about his future and has waited longer than expected before telling the world of his decision to leave professional tennis. The feeling is that the former world number 1 would have wanted to play some tournaments in 2025, but he has not seen the right signals to continue his long journey.
Rafael Nadal, Six Kings Slam 2024© Stream screenshot
During an interview with ‘IB3’, Carlos Moya commented on Nadal’s decision to retire: “We had a conversation before Roland Garros, and I told him it wasn’t the time. He will say goodbye to his audience who will be eager to pay tribute. This is the perfect place and time to do so.”
There is no doubt that injuries have affected much of Rafa’s last years and in general his entire career. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has been forced to sit out due to injury much longer than his two eternal rivals Roger Federer and Nole Djokovic, having also had to skip several Majors in the last two decades. The legend from Manacor had not wanted to receive any official tribute in Rome and Paris this year, hoping perhaps to return next year, but eventually he had to accept the situation.
His record in Paris
In the latest edition of the ‘Radio Marca’s El Programa de Ortega’ podcast, former ATP ace Nicolas Almagro spoke about Nadal’s retirement: “If injuries had spared him, he would have continued trying, I have no doubt about it. It’s a shame, it’s a sad day for world sport. He is one of the greatest that a mother could have given to world sport, a reference, a legend, an example in all aspects… Things in life. We knew that sooner or later he would arrive, but it is a hard blow because he leaves a very big void that is very difficult to fill. We have Carlitos Alcaraz there, present and future, but I think what Rafa has achieved is beyond the reach of any human being.”
Rafael Nadal, 2022 Roland Garros© Stream screenshot
Almagro had the ‘misfortune’ to play in the same era as Rafa and to have to face him also at the French Open, where the Spanish wrote one of the most incredible pages of modern sport winning 14 times. “It was a not unpleasant feeling, because you are in the biggest tournament that a sportsman who likes clay can play on, but if you go in with few options at the beginning of the match, you realize that you have none” – Nicolas admitted.
“It was like going into his garden and wanting to take his fruit and he wouldn’t let you. It’s something that those of us who have played against him there will take with us, we will retain it in our memories and we will tell our children and grandchildren about it. Getting a hold of him, especially in Paris, was difficult.
He forged a legend based on work, sacrifice and values. It’s something that should be taught in schools. That made it so difficult when you played against him to come close to beating him” – he concluded. Nadal’s record at Roland Garros is undoubtedly one of the most incredible in modern sport history, but we must not forget Rafa’s effort to become a versatile and winning player on all surfaces.
