Rafael Nadal will retire from tennis after the 2024 Davis Cup Finals tournament.
The 22-time grand slam champion announced his decision via a social media video posted on October 10.
“I’m here to tell you that I’m retiring from professional tennis,” Nadal said.
“It’s been a rough few years, especially the last two. I haven’t been able to play without limitations. It’s been a difficult decision, one that has taken me a while to make, but in this life everything has a beginning and an end, and I think this is the right time to put an end to what has been a long and much more successful career than I could have ever imagined.
“I’m very excited that my last tournament will be the Davis Cup final, representing my country. I think it’s coming full circle, as one of my first great moments of joy was the [Davis Cup] final in Seville in 2004.”
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Widely considered to be one of the greatest players in history, Nadal has struggled with injuries in recent seasons and has not played since losing to Novak Djokovic at the Olympic Games in Paris back in July.
That defeat came at the Roland-Garros tennis centre, where Nadal won a record 14 French Open titles during a glittering career in which he and rivals Djokovic and Roger Federer — the so-called ‘Big Three’ of modern men’s tennis — set the benchmark in the sport.
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Rafael Nadal to retire: When is his last match?
Nadal intends to play at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals before bringing his career to an end.
Spain face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals at the event in Malaga, southern Spain, with Nadal scheduled to face world No. 67 Botic van de Zandschulp in singles.
That match takes place on November 19, 2024. Should Spain progress, they will face a semifinal matchup against Germany or Canada on November 22. The final is slated for November 24.
You can buy tickets for those Finals here.
Why is Rafael Nadal retiring?
Nadal explained via his social media announcement that he had agonized over the “difficult decision” to retire, but had ultimately accepted his body could no longer withstand the rigors of the professional circuit.
The 38-year-old described being unable to play “without limitations” in recent years, and indeed injuries have largely kept him out of action throughout the second half of 2024. He battled past Marton Fucsovics to set up a meeting with Djokovic in the Olympics back in July, but he has not played since that 6-1 6-4 defeat in Paris.
A hip injury proved a persistent problem in 2023 as Nadal dropped out of the top 100 in the ATP Rankings for the first time in two decades due to a lack of activity on the Tour. He was able to make a comeback early in 2024, but a muscle issue forced him to miss the Australian Open, and he skipped the whole grass-court season, including Wimbledon, after a first-round exit at the French Open.
Following his Olympics efforts, in which he also reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles tournament alongside Carlos Alcaraz,
Nadal was due to play in the Laver Cup in September 2024. However, he withdrew after feeling he would be unable to compete at his best.
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Rafael Nadal career history and grand slams won
Nadal won 22 grand slam singles titles in his career. Only Novak Djokovic (24) has won more among male players.
The Spaniard won a record 14 of those majors at the French Open, making him the most successful player at a single slam in the sport’s history. He lost just four out of 117 matches at the clay-court slam in Paris, and a statute honouring his achievements was unveiled outside the tennis venue in 2021.
In total, Nadal won 92 senior professional titles, including 36 Masters 1000 events, the tournaments considered to be second only to the majors in terms of prestige. He was twice a Wimbledon champion — his first title came in 2008 after he defeated Roger Federer in a five-set match considered to be one of the greatest in the sport’s history — and he won Olympic gold in singles in Beijing the same year. He was a doubles champion at the Games in Rio de Janeiro eight years later.
When he won the Australian Open title in 2022, he became just the fourth man after Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Djokovic to win each of the four majors — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open — more than once.
Nadal was ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks in total and finished the year as the top-ranked player in the world on five occasions. He played at 11 year-end championship events, known as the ATP Finals, but remarkably never won the title, losing to Federer and Djokovic in the 2010 and 2013 finals.
