Rafael Nadal announced that he would retire tennis at 38 after the Davis Cup final in November. (AP photo / Manu Fernandez, file)
(Associated Press)
The weather has finally come for Rafael Nadal. The 38 -year -old Great tennis, who was the first man in history to win 22 Grand Chelem trophies, announced his intention to retire at the end of the year on Thursday. His latest event will be the Davis Cup in November, where he will represent his country of origin, Spain.
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Nadal announced his retirement in a sincere video message published on social networks. It was a bit strange to see Rafa, generally so open with his emotions, calm and composed when he talked about the end of his time in competitive tennis.
“Hello everyone, I'm here to let you know that I retire professional tennis,” said Nadal in the video. “The reality is that it has been difficult years, especially the last two. I don't think I could play without limits.
“It is obviously a difficult decision, which took me time to make. But in this life, everything has a start and an end.
“And I think it's time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could never have imagined.”
We saw Nadal through all of this. We met him when he was a Gangly and Vadrand teenager with a group of boys. Now, 22 major trophies later, he is a 38 -year -old man with a woman and a child who tired of fighting his body, especially in the past two years, because he has been treated with recurring injuries on the back and feet.
After having become a pro at the age of 14 in 2001, Rafa burst into the stage at the age of 18 in 2005, winning his first Grand Slam trophy during his beginnings in French. What followed was almost 20 years of high -level passionate tennis. Here is a wild statistic: During his career, Nadal played in 131 finals of the tournament, winning 92 and losing only 39. In the Grand Chelem final, he has a file of 22-8. In 2010, he became the second man in history (and the youngest) to end the Golden Slam career (winning the four majors and an Olympic gold medal) after finally winning a US Open title.
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While Nadal won trophies over the four surfaces, he was clear from a young age that he was very competent on the clay. At one point, he had won 81 consecutive games on Clay, the greatest number of tennis players have ever won on the surface of the history of tennis. He won 14 French championships and was so loved by the French that a statue of Nadal was erected in Roland Garros for years before calling him a career.
In a way, Nadal's retirement seems that the beating heart of the male tour has been deleted. His joy for tennis, and his gratitude for everything he had, you could always feel both on and out of the field. Years to be under the spotlight as one of the most talented and competitive athletes on the planet can harden some people, but that has not changed Rafa. He was humble and kind, always offering a smile or a hand or a word.
Nadal was human, and that didn't bother him to let us see him. There was no facade between him and the rest of the world. He never put a character. He was still fair himself. If the Big Four were a group of boys, Nadal would be the Soulful. (Roger Federer would be the motivated and disciplined principal singer, Novak Djokovic would be the bad boy and Andy Roddick would be funny.)
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Here is a Jon Wertheim exchange editor heard at the US Open 2018.
No discussion on Nadal would be complete without a look at some of his highlights.
Here is an overview of Rafa (and his hair) over the years.
Rafa has always had the best reactions when the final blow was made and he was alone for the victory. But the best reaction can be later in his career when he won the Australian Open 2022. No one expected what happened to the final, and at the start of the match, it seemed that Daniil Medvedev had Nadal's number. Nadal had abandoned the first two sets and was on the verge of defeat when he widened deeply and proposed one of the most grumpy and unexpected performances of his career.
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Nadal has shocked Medvedev, winning the last three sets and winning his first Australian open trophy since 2009. His reaction is an absolute classic.
What is the next step for Nadal? Only he knows. The only thing we all know with certainty is that he has won everything that he wants.
