Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has announced his retirement at the age of 38.
Nadal shared that he would play his final match in November’s Davis Cup, posting a video in Spanish, as well as thanking his fans in 12 different languages: “Hello everyone, I’m here to let you know that I am retiring from professional tennis. The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But, in this life, everything has a beginning and an end. And I think it’s the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined. I am very excited that my last tournament will be the final of the Davis Cup and representing my country.”
Nadal is best known for his dominance on Europe’s clay courts, as well as his on-court rivalry with Roger Federer (Federer announced his retirement when he was 41 at the end of the 2022 season). However, the Spaniard has recently been plagued with injuries over the past few years and, and has barely played for the past two seasons — so news of his retirement was expected.
Nadal is a 22-time Grand Slam winner, holding a record 14 titles from the French Open, and two from both Wimbledon and the Australian Open. His most recent two Slams arrived in 2022, pushing him ahead of Federer for the then-record of 20 Grand Slam titles for a man. Both Federer and Nadal have since been surpassed in Grand Slams by Novak Djokovic, who reached 24 Grand Slam titles after winning last year’s U.S. Open.
Nadal married Maria Francisca Perello, in 2019, and the couple share one child, son Rafael Nadal Jr., who was born in Mallorca, Spain, in 2022.
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