Despite the Masters 1000 in Shanghai this week, the news of Rafael Nadal’s upcoming retirement has made it around the world. It was well known that the Spanish legend was thinking about his future and that he would make a decision soon, but fans hoped to see him on the court for some tournament in 2025.
Rafa’s results this year were not enough to convince him to continue playing, being aware that his body no longer meets his needs and that his level of play is too far from his usual standards. The 22-time Grand Slam champion will play his last official event in November, at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
The former world number 1 has made history of this sport and everyone’s hope is that he will stay in touch with the sport that has made him a global icon. The legend from Manacor was a great example of resilience and determination, not giving up even in the most complicated moments and showing a deep loyalty on the tennis court.
Despite winning many trophies during his glorious career, Rafa has always been humble and helped so many young players to get closer to the sport thanks to his beautiful academy. Nadal has always had impeccable behavior both on and off the tennis court. Everyone knows that Rafa has never broken a racket and had the ability to remain mentally steady even in the toughest moments of his career.
Babolat shows the numbers
In 25 years of partnership between the Spaniard and Babolat, the French company revealed he’s carried 125 different tennis bags, 1250 Pure Aero rackets, applied over 54k feet of VS Original overgrip and used 186 miles of RPM Blast strings.
The Spanish tennis player will hang his racket after the Davis Cup final in Malaga in November. Toni Nadal, uncle and former tennis coach, was interviewed in Spain by Marca, on the news of the retirement of his nephew. “When something ends – said Uncle Toni – it always produces a feeling of sadness, but I am happy to see the emotion that Rafael has aroused in the world of sport. I’ve always been a coach who was afraid of losing. I always knew that there is a very small margin between victory and defeat and that if you do not reach the limit, maybe you will end up losing”.
“If in 2004 – continues the former coach of Nadal – they had told me that my grandson would retire in 2024 after winning everything he won, I could not have imagined it”. 22 is the number of Slam that Rafa has won in his career, even with many injuries: “If Rafa had not taken risks sometimes, now his board would be much smaller”.
And he reiterated a recently expressed view: “When asked who is the best in history, I say: the best in history is Nole Djokovic for all he has achieved and what played the best tennis was certainly Roger Federer, but I think my nephew would have been the best in history, if he had not been so badly injured”. The Instagram post of Toni Nadal with a single word: “Thank you”.
Rafa remained humble
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was appreciated by everyone even off the tennis court for his kindness and ability to remain humble despite success. On his official X profile, Mark Petchey opened up on Rafa’s incredible attitude: “So as the list of accomplishments get trotted out for Rafa, I won’t remember those.
What I will remember is this. It was 2007/8 I can’t quite remember but he was already a huge star. I was working at Roland Garros as a commentator having worked with Andy Murray and been around Rafa on the practice courts and he knew me a little from my previous commentary work. I was and still am, a very marginal figure in the world of tennis. Even more so then.
I was working on the computers in the media area and it was his birthday. There was a group of about 6 people around him as he was about to be presented his cake somewhere in the building. He happened to look across at the same time I looked to see who was coming. He saw me, broke out of the group, walked over to me about 20 yards to say Hello and ask how I was doing, making the others wait while we chatted. Not saying anything that others don’t know but there are very few elite famous people, let alone athletes who would have done that. I will remember his tennis but I will forever, remember how he made me feel. It’s a great life lesson for everyone. He never changed.
