Tennis great Rafael Nadal has announced he is retiring from the sport at the end of the season.
Nadal, 38, has enjoyed an astonishing career, which saw him win 22 Grand Slams, including 14 French Open titles. But he has been hampered by injuries in recent years, and he announced on Thursday that this will be his final year playing the sport.
Nadal will play for Spain against the Netherlands in the Davis Cup in Malaga from Nov. 19-21. That will be his final act on the tennis court, in a sport where he stood alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as four modern greats in the men’s game.
Nadal broke through onto the scene ahead of the 2005 French Open where he won the tournament at his first attempt. From there he established remarkable dominance on clay where he won 14 tournaments in 18 years at Roland Garros (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022).
He also triumphed the Australian Open (2009, 2022), Wimbledon (2008, 2010), and the US Open (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019).
His victory over Federer on Centre Court at the All England Club in 2008 is widely regarded to be one of the finest matches the men’s sport has ever seen, where Nadal triumphed 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7.
