Rafael Nadal retires from tennis right on time

For more than twenty years, Rafael Nadal capitalized on his reputation for authenticity.

Roger Federer was the tennis politician, an unsophisticated beacon of neutrality. Novak Djokovic was destined to take on the difficult task of fitting into a sport that had come to define the rivalry between Nadal and Federer, trying out a series of identities. He has only recently established himself in his best form: a tennis statesman inclined to unleash the antagonistic tennis demon he so enjoys and which is always lurking.

Rafa just did it Rafa. He was never afraid to be painfully honest about what was happening before his eyes or around him. Sometimes he would use his words and underline a sentence with his trademark, “That’s my truth.” Sometimes it was one of those eyebrows raised with the arch of his forehand, or the sarcastic grin that barely contained his disbelief.

“Really, amigo?” he might have said as Federer played until he was 41, mainly on one knee in his final rounds, or as Andy Murray playfully tested racquets and braved spinal surgery this spring and summer. Nadal shared with them the desire to have nothing left to give, but his decision to retire at the age of 38 after the Davis Cup final in Malaga last November feels downright quick, even when compared to the faltering physical insecurity of the past two years.

Nadal gathered all the data he needed to conclude that his time had expired in sixteen four-month matches, all on red clay, the surface where beating him had once been perhaps the toughest task in any sport. He won ten and lost six, including two painful and somewhat lopsided defeats against Alexander Zverev and against Djokovic on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros, his supposed living room. That’s that, regardless of that raging, never-quit mentality that has impressed both friend and foe for centuries.

The last meeting between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was a signal to him that the time had come. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

“He is mentally the strongest player I have seen, and I am not just talking about tennis, I am talking about all sports,” his friend and compatriot Feliciano Lopez said in an interview on Thursday.

The mentality was never in his doubt. Nadal wanted to play without physical limitations. He couldn’t.

“It’s obviously a difficult decision that took me some time,” he said in his retirement video.

“Everything in this life has a beginning and an end. I think this is the right time to end a career.”

How Rafael Nadal will leave tennis

It’s true that this has been in the works for about two years, ever since Nadal stopped while chasing a forehand at Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open in January 2023. He looked at his box mid-step, his eyes so wide that it looked like someone had stabbed him in the hip.

In June of that year, he underwent surgery to repair two muscle tears before embarking on a final comeback, suffering a new series of setbacks every time he felt his game was still within reach. Ultimately, Nadal proved unable to fool himself that he would ever again be able to compete with the best players in the world.

In retrospect, it probably didn’t even take that long. At today’s highest level of tennis, players must be able to accumulate a certain number of easy points during their serve. This was especially true for Nadal, who no longer had the speed or ability to chase balls for four hours in five sets, as he had done for twenty years.

He could no longer inflict the same damage on his serve, a shot that was always a limitation, even though he had managed to turn it from a real weakness into a kind of weapon. He could no longer lift or twist his body as he once had, and he actually hit two second serves every time he stepped to the line. That wouldn’t change even if he skipped hard court tournaments and the Wimbledon grass, leaving him thinking of a final trip to the French capital where he, the boy from Mallorca, has his statue.

Rafael Nadal’s last French Open saw him dealt a cruel hand by drawing in the form of Alexander Zverev. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)

If he couldn’t go there with the dream of doing something important, he wouldn’t worry about it. He didn’t need another afternoon of admiration and farewell gifts if the match that preceded it would be little more than a parting gift.

“I prefer to stay with all the great memories I have,” he said during a press conference ahead of the 2024 French Open.

Hubert Hurkacz, who also presented Federer with the humiliation of a Wimbledon bagel, beat Nadal ten days later at the Italian Open. Nadal called off a post-match celebration and minced no words about the performance.

“I did a disaster,” he said after the match.

A period of good health and a solid week of training ahead of the last French Open gave him some hope, but the draw put Zverev in the best shape of his life. Nadal said he felt good enough to perhaps improve every match, but the combination didn’t allow that. Given his position in the rankings and his health, the draws would probably not have helped him anymore.

And then came the final data point at the Olympics, in a second-round match against Djokovic, his old foe. In their 60th meeting, Djokovic won 6-1, 6-4 in a match that was not as close as even the score suggests.

GO DEEPER

Game, Set, Match: Novak Djokovic takes on Rafael Nadal at the Paris Olympics

As with Hurkacz, Nadal was cold and clear in his assessment of what happened that afternoon. He knew where his tennis stood. Djokovic had controlled the court all day, playing from all comfortable positions, punishing Nadal on his serve and taking away his legs, as Nadal had done to so many on that red dust for so long.

“He was much better than me,” Nadal said at the time.

He could have continued playing. In an individual sport, no one cuts you from the team. Especially not in tennis, and especially not in tennis with Nadal, whose tournaments would hand him wild card entries as long as he could ask for them. He could have endured the abuse of Hurkacz, Zverev and Djokovic the following year, and then had crowds around the world cheer him on in his anguish.

He didn’t need that. When he put it back in the spring, he preferred to stay with all his wonderful memories.

(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)