Tennis Superstar Rafael Nadal Announces Retirement Date

Rafael Nadal announced his impending retirement from tennis on Thursday at age 38 after winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles during an unprecedented era he shared with his rivals in the so-called Big Three, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Nadal said he will retire after next month’s Davis Cup finals.

“Really, everything I have experienced has been a dream come true,” Nadal said in an announcement on social media. “I leave with the absolute peace of mind of having given my best, of having made an effort in every way”

The Spaniard indicated his decision was related to persistent injury problems.

“The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations. 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,” Nadal said.

Nadal’s unrelenting, physical style of play — every point pursued as though it were his last, sprinting and sliding into place for that high-bouncing bullwhip of a lefty forehand — made him one of the greats of the game and the unquestioned King of Clay, the slow, red surface on which he claimed his record 14 French Open championships.

That’s more than anyone, man or woman, won at any one of the sport’s four major tournaments, a dominance celebrated by a statue of Nadal that stands near the main entrance to the grounds of Roland Garros and in the shadow of its main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier.

Nadal also won four trophies at the U.S. Open and two apiece at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, giving him a career Grand Slam. His last pair arrived in 2022, at Melbourne in January and at Paris in June, pushing him ahead of Federer for the men’s