Rafael Nadal has announced his retirement from tennis aged 38 after an illustrious career in which he won 22 grand slam titles and cemented his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest stars.
The Spaniard’s final tournament will be the Davis Cup finals in Malaga this November, having not played since the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
Across a remarkable 23-year senior career – having turned professional aged 14 in 2001 – Nadal won 14 French Open titles, four US Opens and two titles each at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
In a video announcing his retirement, Nadal said: “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 feel super lucky for all the things I’ve been able to experience. I want to thank the entire tennis industry, all the people involved in this sport, my longtime colleagues, especially my great rivals.
“I’ve spent many, many hours with them, and I’ve lived many moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Talking about my team is a little bit more difficult for me, because in the end, my team has been a very important part of my life. They’re not just co-workers. They are friends.
Mil gracias a todos Many thanks to all Merci beaucoup à tous Grazie mille à tutti 谢谢大家 شكرا لكم جميعا תודה לכולכם Obrigado a todos Vielen Dank euch allen Tack alla Хвала свима Gràcies a tots pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi
“And finally, you the fans – I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve made me feel. You give me the energy I’ve needed every moment, really.
“Everything I have experienced has been a dream come true. I leave with the absolute peace of mind of having given my best, of having made an effort in every way I can only end by saying thanks to all and see you soon.”
Rafael Nadal’s remarkable career in numbers
Nadal won two of his 22 grand slam titles at Wimbledon (Photo: Getty)
22 – grand slam titles
14 – French Open titles, the most by any player at any slam
112 – victories at Roland Garros
4 – defeats at Roland Garros
4 – US Open titles
2 – Wimbledon titles
2 – Australian Open titles
13 – years between Nadal’s two Melbourne titles, in 2009 and 2022
30 – grand slam final appearances
92 – tour-level singles titles
2 – Olympic gold medals, one in singles and one in doubles
36 – ATP Masters 1000 titles
4 – Davis Cup titles with Spain
12 – titles at the Barcelona Open, with 11 at the Monte-Carlo Masters
81 – consecutive matches won on clay from April 2005 to May 2007
209 – weeks spent at world number one
5 – years ended as world number one
912 – consecutive weeks spent in the top 10 between April 2005 and March 2023, more than any other man
24 – victories over Roger Federer from 40 matches
29 – victories over Novak Djokovic from 60 matches
1,080 – tour-level matches won
Plans to honour Nadal at Roland Garros earlier this year were shelved after he told tournament organisers it may not be his last French Open, but this has transpired to be the case.
He will instead bow out on home turf. Spain will face the Netherlands in the Davis Cup quarter-finals between 19 and 21 November. Nadal was added to the squad in September having missed the group stage due to injury.
Analysis: Fairytale ending for a sporting icon?
Nadal’s battles with Federer and Djokovic are the stuff of sporting legend (Photo: Getty)
By James Gray, sports news correspondent
Nadal has been consistently cryptic about the exact date of his departure, despite confirming this year’s French Open would probably be his last. Probably was a hedge he hoped would pay off. It has not.
But this is hardly a career cut sadly short by injury. At the age of 38, Nadal has gone on years longer than many said he would when he first emerged on the scene, a teenager with bulging biceps and joints that could surely not withstand two decades of punishment from his tenacious game style.
He instead will go down as one of the greatest all-time, the penultimate of the Big Four to depart the stage with only Novak Djokovic remaining from that remarkable era of men’s tennis.
Nadal’s reluctance to hang the racket up has also allowed him to arrange an unerringly appropriate ending: playing for Spain in the Davis Cup Finals on home soil.
“I’ve come full circle,” Nadal said. “One of my first joys as a professional tennis player. was the Davis Cup final, in Sevilla in 2004.”
Nadal’s victory over Andy Roddick was crucial to Spain’s victory that day, and 20 years but less than 100 miles down the autovia he will hope to do something similar alongside Carlos Alcaraz and the world’s No 1 doubles player Marcel Granollers.
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