Rafael Nadal announces retirement from tennis

After 23 years, tennis legend Rafael Nadal announced he is retiring from sport early Thursday morning.

After the Davis Cup Finals in his home country of Spain next month, Nadal will walk away from the sport.

“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,” Nadal said in a Thursday video.

Since 2022, Nadal has dealt with foot and abdominal injuries.

“It is obviously a difficult decision and one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end.”

Nadal turned pro at the age of 14 in 2001 and will retire at the age of 38.

During his 23 years as a professional, Nadal won 22 Grand Slam titles. His most successful event was the French Open, winning the event 14 times with an overall record of 112-4 at Roland Garros. The clay playing field was Nadal's specialty as a whole as he owns the record for consecutive wins on a single surface with 81 on the dirt.

Nadal had particularly great years in 2008 and 2010. In both years the five-time ATP Player of the Year won both Wimbledon and the French Open. In '08, he won Wimbledon for the first time, snapping Roger Federer's five-year streak at the event, thus beginning their 15-year rivalry. Later that summer, Nadal won gold at the Beijing Olympics.

As players who defined a generation of men's tennis, Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic were dubbed the "Big Three" in era that also featured the likes of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, and set the stage for the likes of Casper Rudd, Carlos Alcaraz, Frances Tiafoe, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas .

“I feel super, super lucky for all the things I have experienced. I want to thank the tennis industry and everyone in the sport: my long-term colleagues, especially my great rivals,” Nadal said. “I think it is the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could ever have imagined.”

Nadal partnered with Alcaraz at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and is expected to do the same in a final passing of the torch for Team Spain at the Davis Cup, according to The Athletic's James Hansen.

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