Nadal Announces Retirement To End Of Davis Cup Final 2024
Rafael Nadal of Spain during the Day two of Roland-Garros 2022, French Open 2022, Grand Slam tennis tournament at the Roland-Garros stadium on May 23, 2022 in Paris, France.
Nadal Announces Retirement To End Of Davis Cup 2024.
Tennis legend, Rafael Nadal has announced his retirement from tennis at the end of the 2024 season.
He will represent Spain in his final appearance at November’s Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain.
With his released on Thursday, Nadal said, “I am here to let you know I am retiring from professional tennis.
“The reality is that it has been some difficult years, the last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations.”
Nadal has barely played over the past two seasons because of injuries and suggested last year he could retire at the end of the 2024 season.
As Nadal retires, he will be the second-most successful men’s singles player of all time, behind only long-time rival Novak Djokovic.
Named the ‘King of Clay’, Nadal won the French Open singles title a record 14 times, winning 112 of his 116 major matches at Roland Garros.
Nadal is also a four-time US Open champion and won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon twice.
He also won Olympic singles and doubles gold and helped Spain to five Davis Cup titles, most recently in 2019.
When announcing he would not play in the 2023 French Open, Nadal said he planned to retire at the end of 2024 because of the series of injuries which were taking their toll on his body.
But, having returned earlier this season, Nadal became increasingly non-committal about his future.
The former world number one regularly said he wanted to keep playing as long as his body let him.
Now, after a chastening defeat by long-time rival Novak Djokovic at the Paris Olympics in July, he has decided the time is right.
“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But, in this life, everything has a beginning and an end,” he said.
After returning to competitive action in Brisbane in January, Nadal was sidelined again with a thigh injury, missing the Australian Open.
Nadal played four tournaments during the European clay-court season, culminating in a first-round defeat at the French Open.
Since then he has played just two more tournaments – in Bastad and the Olympic Games at Roland Garros.
Last month he was included in Spain’s squad for the Davis Cup Finals, which takes place between 19-24 November.
“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 ever have imagined.
“I’m very excited that my last tournament will be the final of the Davis Cup and representing my country,” Nadal said.
