The 2024 Davis Cup marked the end of a legendary career, as 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal called it a day on his tennis journey.
Nadal retired at the tournament, held in Malaga, representing Spain in his last match against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.
His farewell came seven months after his final match at Roland Garros, where Nadal suffered just his fourth defeat ever at the tournament, losing to Alexander Zverev in the first round.
The Spaniard’s former coach, Toni Nadal, recently spoke on the 14-time French Open champion’s decision to say goodbye to the game, and revealed how he found out.
Toni Nadal explains how Rafael Nadal told him about his retirement plans
The former world number one’s uncle said: “He saw that his body wasn’t responding. The issue here isn’t why he retired, but why it took so long to retire. Why did it take so long, many journalists asked me.
“Of course, in life it’s difficult to stop doing what you love and what you’ve felt good about, you’ve been successful at, and that has given you great personal satisfaction. It’s about stopping doing it. It’s not easy.
“My nephew got used to having physical problems for years and always thought, well, your body will respond by doing this. And since he got used to it, he believed his body would respond again, and he waited [to retire].
“He wanted to retire, but he wanted to retire after playing a normal season. But in the end, after waiting and waiting, he came to the conclusion that his body was no longer responding to him to play at a high level. He thought, well I have no choice but to accept it and leave.”
When asked how Rafael Nadal told him about his plans to retire, Toni Nadal said: “Yeah, he told me. He said ‘Well, I’ve made the decision to retire. I’m going to retire in Malaga.’
“He told me two or three months before when he made the decision. And then I found out the day he sent us the announcement, he sent a message to the family chat that we have, and he announced his retirement in a video.”
The moment Rafael Nadal knew he wanted to retire from tennis
In an interview on the Served Podcast in March, Rafael Nadal spoke about the moment he knew he wanted to retire.
He recalled his mindset in the summer of 2024 when he said: “Inside myself, I was not able to move the way that I was used to moving,
“After the Olympics, I came back home and said it’s over, I feel it. Before, I didn’t feel it, I wanted to give myself the time.
“After that, I say okay, it doesn’t make sense, I don’t feel like I’m going to come back and be competitive at the level that motivates me. When I felt that, it was over.”
Nadal lost in the second round of the Paris Olympics to Novak Djokovic, in the final career meeting between the two.
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