Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam winner, has announced his retirement from tennis.
Nadal said he will retire from the sport after next month’s Davis Cup tournament in Malaga, Spain.
Announcing the news via his Instagram pagehe said, “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. It is obviously a difficult decision, one that takes me some time to make.” He went on to say, “But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end. And I think it’s an appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”
This past Summer, Nadal was chosen for the Spanish tennis team for the Paris Olympics, where he partnered with fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in doubles.
The retirement news should come as no surprise. Over the past 12 months, Nadal has been plagued with a hip injury which forced him to miss out on many tournaments. During “The Netflix Slam,” when he went head-to-head with Alcaraz, Nadal admitted, “What put me in a position to be close to retirement is my body more than anything else because in my mind is healthy in terms of passion for what I’m doing.”
He began his career playing in juniors, winning several championships along the way including the Spanish Junior Championships in 1997 and 1998. A few years later, Nadal went on to reach the junior semi-finals at Wimbledon. He’d also go on to win his first ATP match in 2002.
He was 19 years old when he won his first French Open title at Roland Garros. He went on to win that tournament 14 times. It was the most won on a single surface in the open era and earned him the nickname “King of Clay.” Nadal’s last win there was in 2022, when he beat Casper Ruud.
Nadal is also one of four players to win the Golden Slam – winning all four Opens (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, U.S. Open) and an Olympic Gold Medal in the same year. He joins Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Steffi Graff.
Nadal was the subject of the 2018 documentary “Strokes of Genius” which looked at his historic rivalry with Roger Federer. The doc focused on one of their most memorable meetings, the 2008 Men’s final at Wimbledon where he beat Federer in a thrilling five-set game and went on to win his first Wimbledon trophy.
Nadal extensively recalls that experience in his 2012 memoir, “Rafa: My Story.” Most recently, Nadal also appeared in Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Federer: Twelve Final Days,” following the days leading up to Federer’s retirement.
