Naturally, there has been an overwhelming outpouring of emotion in reaction to Rafael Nadal’s earth-shattering news.
He is set to retire from tennis next month.
Featuring for his home country in the Davis Cup Finals, which could be extended should they triumph, it marks yet another notable departure from the sport in 2024.
Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem, Danielle Collins and Angelique Kerber are but a few who made the call before Nadal.
However, few have had the impact that the 38-year-old has.
Andrea Petkovic reacts to Rafael Nadal’s retirement
And now, speaking to Zeit Online, a German newspaper, Andrea Petkovic offered her own verdict on Rafael Nadal’s retirement from tennis.
And, speaking in her homeland, she was able to freely offer a touching tribute to the superstar Spaniard who transcended the sport.
She even revealed an opinion commonly held by many other professionals, revealing: ‘There has never been an athlete who has achieved more and who not only feared losing before each individual match, but was absolutely convinced of it to the very core of his being.
‘At the beginning of his 14th title, which broke all clay records with Roland Garros, Nadal thought he would fly out against a qualifier in the first round. This gave his tennis game the urgency and the breathlessness, which was transferred to the spectators who were allowed to attend the spectacle.
‘I had to go out of the room regularly when Nadal was playing. And it wasn’t just me. Many tennis players loved watching Rafael Nadal play tennis, but were scared when they watched him fight. Too familiar the state of existence on the cliff of failure, which Nadal always radiated latently.
‘It was his great strength. It gave him the energy, the strength, yes, the elixir of life to deny every point as if it were the last one he would ever play.’
Novak Djokovic is the final member of the Big Three left standing
It was quite poetic that just yesterday, days after Rafael Nadal announced his retirement, that Sinner defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets of the Shanghai Masters final.
It almost seemed like a reaffirmation that the Big Three’s reign of terror is well and truly over, with Roger Federer having retired, his Spanish rival following in his footsteps in the coming weeks, and the Serbian disruptor failing to beat this 23-year-old pretender for a third straight match.
Djokovic can still compete with almost everyone on tour, and he proved that when he emerged to overcome Carlos Alcaraz in the Olympic singles final.
However, this has been far from the year he would have expected after winning three of the four Grand Slam titles in 2023.
He seems so far away from retirement based on his level, but he also seems so far away from Sinner and Alcaraz too.
Inevitably though, Djokovic will be the last of the Big Three left standing.
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