Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, announced his retirement Thursday at age 38, bringing to a close the most dominant clay-court career in the history of the sport.
Nadal’s 22 Grand Slams put him second on the all-time men’s list behind Novak Djokovic. Known for his mastery of clay and on-court rivalry with Roger Federer, the Spanish star said he would play his final match in November’s Davis Cup.
“It’s obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make,” the Spanish star said in a video on X. “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 ever could have imagined.”
The latter part of Nadal’s career has been plagued by injuries, one of the reasons for his retirement, he said.
“It has been some difficult years, these last two especially,” he said over footage of him receiving physiotherapy. “I don’t think I’ve been able to play without limitations.”
Born on the Spanish vacation island of Mallorca, Nadal won two grand slams each at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. But his generational career was built on his sheer dominance of the French Open, where he won 14 titles in 17 years between 2005 and 2022.
He has won almost $135 million in prize money, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals governing body.
His record at Roland Garros remains an astonishing 112 wins and 4 loses. And he become so synonymous with the tournament that in 2021 a statue was unveiled there depicting his trademark left forehand. Despite being the sport’s premier left-handed player, Nadal is actually right-handed for other tasks such as writing.
“I’m a little bit strange in all of that,” he said in 2020. “I eat and play basketball with the right; I play tennis and football with the left.”
His bond with the French capital was capped at the Paris 2024 Olympics this summer when he was one of the torchbearers who carried the flame up the river Seine at the opening ceremony.
Although he competed at those Games, losing to Serbia’s Djokovic in the second round, he then withdrew from the U.S. Open and Laver Cup, saying for the latter, team-based tournament that “at this moment there are other players who can help the team deliver the win.” This stirred rumors that retirement might be imminent.
Nadal’s most recent two Slams — at the 2022 French and Australian opens — pushed him ahead of Federer for the then-record of 20 Grand Slam titles for a man.
The pair spent years locked in an elite but seemingly good-natured rivalry, its zenith coming at the marathon 2008 Wimbledon final, widely considered to be one of the best matches of all time. The contest was a rematch of the thrilling final a year earlier. It pitted Federer, then world no.1 and arguable GOAT on grass, against an upstart Nadal who at 22 was already established as a wunderkind on clay.
The London crowd was treated to five sets over almost five hours, finishing at 9 p.m. in near darkness to become the longest Wimbledon final on record at the time. Nadal took the first two sets, was then pegged back 2-2, before winning the final, epic set 9-7.
“This is the greatest match I’ve ever seen,” former star John McEnroe said at the time, his own 1982 showdown against Jimmy Connors having previously held the record for longest Wimbledon final (since overtaken again by Federer and Djokovic in 2019).
Federer announced his retirement when he was 41 at the end of the 2022 season. Both he and Nadal have since been surpassed in Grand Slams by Djokovic, currently on 24 titles, putting the Serb in the “greatest ever” frame despite being more divisive among fans.
In his video Thursday, Nadal paid tribute to his wife of 19 years, Maria Perello, 36, and son, Rafael Nadal Jr., 2, who he described as “a force that has really kept me alive.”
Finally, he thanked his fans. “I can’t thank you enough for what you made me feel,” he said. “You have given me the energy I have needed at every moment.”
“Really, everything I have experienced has been a dream come true.”
The Associated Press contributed.
