Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal introduced on Thursday that he’ll retire following the Davis Cup finals in November, concluding a outstanding profession that garnered 22 Grand Slam titles, worldwide admiration, and ignited legendary rivalries with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
“I am retiring from professional tennis. The truth is, these past few years have been challenging, especially the last two,” Nadal shared in a video on social media.
“This is a difficult decision that I’ve taken time to consider. But in life, everything has a beginning and an end.”
The 38-year-old Spaniard is poised to wrap up his two-decade journey as an expert with 92 titles and greater than $135 million in prize cash.
He dominated the French Open, the place he gained 14 of his majors, together with his first arriving simply days after his nineteenth birthday in 2005 and his final in 2022, making him the occasion’s oldest champion.
On the well-known crushed brick of Roland Garros, he misplaced simply thrice in 115 matches.
He was additionally a four-time champion on the U.S. Open and a two-time winner on the Australian Open, together with his first triumph coming in 2009 and his second 13 years later.
Nadal additionally gained Wimbledon twice, in 2008 and 2010, regardless of grass being thought of the floor probably to show any shortcomings in his sport.
His five-set victory over Federer within the 2008 championship match, which led to virtually full darkness on the All England Club, is extensively considered the best Slam closing ever performed.
Nadal claimed a profession Golden Slam when he took Olympic gold in 2008. For good measure, he additionally gained 5 Davis Cups.
Nadal was a five-time year-end world No. 1 and by no means left the highest 10 from 2005 till March this yr.
In whole, he spent 209 weeks within the prime spot and, between 2004 and 2022, gained a minimum of one title yearly.
In his lengthy rivalry with shut good friend Federer, who retired final yr, he loved a 24-16 edge. Nadal surpassed Federer’s mark of 20 majors in Australia final yr.
He and Novak Djokovic, the all-time chief with 24 males’s Grand Slam titles, met 60 occasions, with the Serb simply forward by two.
An underpowered Nadal was swept apart by Djokovic in straight units of their closing assembly at this yr’s Paris Olympics.
Despite his record-breaking profession, Nadal was stricken by accidents, a painful byproduct of his all-action, brutal-hitting model.
Injury-plagued
Ankle, wrist, knee, elbow, and stomach issues induced him to sit down out 16 Grand Slam tournaments and withdraw mid-event on 5 events on the majors.
At the 2022 French Open, he admitted that his title cost would have been unattainable with out day by day pain-killing injections in his foot.
Nadal then underwent a medical process that required nerves in his foot to be burned to permit him to increase his profession.
However, the creaks in his physique have been getting louder.
An stomach pressure compelled him out of Wimbledon, the place he had made the semifinals.
He was then struck down by a hip harm on the Australian Open in January, crashing out within the second spherical – his earliest exit on the majors in seven years.
His spouse, Mery, was in tears as she watched him battle by to the top.
Nadal probably sensed the writing was on the wall on the Laver Cup in London two years in the past when he performed alongside Federer within the nice Swiss star’s closing event.
At 41, unable to shake off a knee harm, Federer referred to as it quits.
The two males wept and even grasped one another’s fingers because the Federer period ended.
“When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too,” stated Nadal.
Source: www.dailysabah.com