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MADRID (AP) — Rafael Nadal is retiring from professional tennis at age 38, he announced in a video message Thursday, after winning 22 Grand Slam titles during an unprecedented era he shared with rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal has competed infrequently the past two seasons because of injuries and said next month's Davis Cup finals will mark his farewell to the sport. He had hip surgery in 2023 and entered just two of the past eight major tournaments.
"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. "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'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 dominated.
His record 14 French Open championships are 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.
In a result that symbolised where things stood for his body, and career, he exited in the French Open's first round this year, a straight-set loss to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev.
Nadal returned to that site in southwest Paris for the Summer Olympics, where he lost to old rival Djokovic in the second round of singles and reached the quarterfinals of men's doubles with Carlos Alcaraz. Nadal hasn't played since. His goodbye will also come while representing Spain, at Malaga in the Davis Cup.
"Your legacy won't be matched," Alcaraz, who is widely seen as Nadal's heir in Spanish tennis, said Thursday. "I have enjoyed you and I will miss you very much when you retire after the Davis Cup."
Football greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé were among stars from the sports world also paying tribute to Nadal.
In addition to his French Open triumphs, Nadal won four trophies at the US Open and two apiece at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, giving him a career Grand Slam.
"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 have ever imagined," Nadal said.
His last pair of major titles arrived in 2022, at Melbourne in January and at Paris in June, pushing him ahead of Federer, who held the men's record of 20 Grand Slam titles when he announced his retirement at age 41. Federer bid adieu in late 2022 by teaming with Nadal in a doubles match at the Laver Cup.
Both have since been surpassed by Djokovic, 37, who is up to 24 majors.
So much of Nadal's success was seen, fairly or not, through the prism of his encounters with Federer and Djokovic. The tennis world, and plenty outside of it, were consumed with the debate over which was most deserving of the "GOAT" — "Greatest Of All-Time" — moniker. The world, tennis or otherwise, was fascinated by their matchups, their differing styles and personalities.
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